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LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

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KEPORT 


OF 


THE    COMMISSION" 


CREATED   IX   ACCORDANCE    WITH 


A  JOINT  RESOLUTION  OF  CONGRESS,  APPROVED  MARCH  3,  1881, 


PROVIDING   FOR   THE   ERECTION   OF  A 


MONUMENT  AT  YORKTOWN,  VA., 


COMMEMORATIVE    OF 


THE   SURRENDER  OF  LORD  CORNWALLIS. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT   PRINTING  OFFICE. 
1883. 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


FEBRUARY  20,   1883. — Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Printing   and   ordered  to  be 

printed. 


Mr.  JOHNSTON,  from  the  Yorktown  Centennial  Commission,  submitted 

the  following 

1IEPORT: 

ACTS  AND  RESOLUTIONS  OF  CONGRESS  PROVIDING  FOR  THE  CENTEN 
NIAL  CELEBRATION  OF  THE  SURRENDER  OF  LORD  CORNWALLIS  AT 
YORKTOWN  AND  THE  ERECTION  OF  A  MONUMENT  COMMEMORATIVE 
THEREOF. 

AN  ACT  to  carry  into  eft'ect  the  resolution  of  Congress,  adopted  on  the  twenty-ninth 
day  of  October,  seventeen  himd\e(^aiid  eighty-one,  in  regard  to  a  monumental  col 
umn  at  Yorktown,  Virginia,  and  for  other  purposes. 

Whereas,  on  Monday,  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  October,  seventeen 
hundred  and  eighty-one,  it  was  resolved  "  That  the  United  States  in  Con 
gress  assembled  will  cause  to  be  erected  at  York,  in  Virginia,  a  marble 
-column,  adorned  with  emblems  of  the  alliance  between  the  United  States 
and  His  Most  Christian  Majesty,  and  inscribed  with  a  succinct  narra 
tive  of  the  surrender  of  Earl  Cornwallis  to  His  Excellency,  General 
Washington,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  combined  forces  of  America 
and  France;  to  His  Excellency  Count  De  Kochambeau,  commanding  the 
auxiliary  troops  of  His  Most  Christian  Majesty  in  America,  and  His 
Excellency  Count  De  Grasse,  commandiug-in  chief  the  naval  army  of 
France  in  Chesapeake  ; "  and 

Whereas  the  said  resolution  of  Congress  has  not  yet  been  carried 
into  effect,  although  nearly  one  hundred  years  have  elapsed  since  it  was 
adopted :  Therefore, 

.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  or  so  much  thereof  as  may  be  necessarj-,  be,  and  the 
same  is  hereby,  appropriated,  out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not 
otherwise  appropriated,  to  be  expended,  under  the  direction  of  the  Sec 
retary  of  War,  in  erecting  at  Yorktown,  in  Virginia,  the  monument  re 
ferred  to  in  the  aforesaid  resolution  of  Congress :  Provided,  hoicever, 

3 


4  YOKKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

That  the  material  used  may  be  such  as  the  Secretary  of  \Var  may 
most  suitable  and  desirable. 

SEC.  2.  That  a  commission  of  three  persons  shall  be  appointed  by  the 
Secretary  of  War,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  recommend  a  suitable  de 
sign  for  said  monument,  to  prepare  a  sketch  of  emblems  of  the  alliance 
between  His  Most  Christian  Majesty  and  the  United  States,  and  a  suc 
cinct  narrative  of  the  surrender  of  Earl  Cormvallis,  to  be  inscribed  on 
the  same,  subject  to  the  approval  and  adoption  of  the  select  committee 
of  thirteen  appointed  by  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
on  the  nineteenth  of  December,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-nine,  and 
of  thirteen  Senators  to  be  appointed  by  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Sen 
ate,  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  appropriating  a  suitable  sum  to 
be  expended  in  erecting  at  York  town,  in  Virginia,  the  monument  re 
ferred  to. 

SEC.  3.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  joint  committee  to  select  the 
site  for  the  location  of  said  monument,  to  obtain  the  cession  of  the  same 
from  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  to  make  all  necessary  arrangements  for 
such  a  celebration  by  the  American  people,  of  the  centennial  anniver 
sary  of  the  battle  of  Yorktown,  on  the  nineteenth  of  October,  eighteen 
hundred  and  eighty-one,  as  shall  befit  the  historical  significance  of  that 
event,  and  the  present  greatness  of  the  nation. 

SEC.  4.  That  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars,  or  so  much  thereof 
as  may  be  necessary,  is  hereby  appropriated,  out  of  any  money  in  the 
Treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated,  for  the  purpose  of  defraying  the 
expenses  incurred  in  -the  said  centennial  celebration,  and  to  be  disbursed 
under  the  direction  of  the  said  joint  committee. 

Approved  June  7,  1880. 


JOINT  RESOLUTION  authorizing  aud  requesting  the  President  to  extend  to  the 
Government  and  people  of  France  and  the  family  of  General  La  Fayetto  an  invita 
tion  to  join  the  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States  in  the  observance  of 
the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  surrender  of  Lord  Connvjillis  at  Yorktown.  Vir 
ginia. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  Nates 
of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  the  President  be,  and  is  hereby, 
authorized  and  requested  to  extend  to  the  Government  and  people  of 
France  and  the  family  of  General  La  Fayette  a  cordial  invitation  to  unite 
with  the  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States,  on  the  nineteenth 
day  of  October,  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-one,  in  a  tit  and  appropri 
ate  observance  of  the  centennial  annivesary  of  the  surrender  of  Lord 
Cornwallis  at  Yorktown.  And  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  pro 
visions  of  this  resolution  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  is  hereby 
appropriated  out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  otherwise  appropri 
ated,  the  same  or  so  much  thereof  as  may  be  necessary  to  be  expended 
under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 

Approved  February  18,  1881. 


YORKTOWX    CELEBRATION.  5 

JOINT  RESOLUTION  to  create  a  commission  for  the  performance  of  certain  duties 
under  the  act  of  Congress  providing  for  the  erection  of  a  monument  at  Yorktown 
and  the  proposed  centennial  celebration. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
of  America  in  Conyress  assembled,  That  Jolm  W.  Johnston,  of  Virginia; 
E.  IT.  Rollins,  of  New  Hampshire;  Henry  L.  Dawes,  of  Massachusetts ; 
II. vH.  Anthony,  of  Rhode  Island;  W.  W.  Eaton,  of  Connecticut ;  W.  A. 
Wallace,  of  Pennsylvania;  Francis  Kernan,  of  New  York;  T.  F.  Ran 
dolph,  of  New  Jersey;  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  of  Delaware;  AY.  Pinkney 
\Yhyte,  of  Maryland;  Mat.  W.  Ransom,  of  North  Carolina;  M.  C.  But 
ler,  of  South  Carolina;  Benjamin  H.  Hill,  of  Georgia;  John  Goode,  of 
Virginia;  Joshua  G.  Hall,  of  New  Hampshire;  George  B.  Loring,  of 
Massachusetts  ;  Nelson  W.  Aldrich,  of  Rhode  Island;  Joseph  R.  Haw- 
ley,  of  Connecticut ;  Samuel  B.  Dick,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Louis  A.  Brig- 
ham,  of  New  Jersey;  Nicholas  Muller,  of  New  York;  Edward  L.  Martin, 
of  Delaware;  J.Fred.  C.  Talbott,  of  Maryland;  Joseph  J.  Davis,  of 
North  Carolina ;  John  S.  Richardson,  of  South  Carolina ;  and  Henry 
Persons,  of  Georgia,  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  appointed  a  commission 
with  full  power  and  authority  to  discharge  all  the  duties  and  perform 
all  ther  functions  which  were  devolved  upon  them  as  a  joint  committee 
of  thirteen  Senators  and  thirteen  Representatives  under  the  act  of  Con 
gress  approved  June  seventh,  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty,  entitled 
"An  act  to  carry  into  effect  the  resolution  of  Congress  adopted  on  the 
twenty-ninth  of  October,  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-one,  in  regard 
to  a  monumental  column  at  Yorktown,  Virginia,  and  for  other  pur 
poses.'' 

And  the  said  commission  may  employ  a  clerk  during  the  time  they 
are  engaged  in  the  performance  of  said  duties,  whose  compensation 
.shall  be  at  the  usual  rate  of  clerks  to  committees  of  Congress,  and  who 
shall  be  paid  out  of  the  contingent  fund  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  in  equal  proportions. 

Approved  March  3,  1881. 


To  the  honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : 

The  Commission  created  by  your  honorable  bodies  to  provide  for  the 
proper  celebration  of  the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  surrender  of 
Lord  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown,  and  to  select  a  site  for  a  monument  to 
be  erected  by  the  United  States  in  commemoration  of  that  event,  re 
spectfully  report  as  follows: 

That  by  the  act  of  Congress  approved  June  7,  1880,  a  joint  committee 
of  the  two  Houses,  consisting  of  one  member  of  each  House  from  each 
of  the  original  thirteen  States,  was  appointed  for  that  purpose. 
The  committee  was  as  follows  : 

Hon.  JOHN  W.  JOHNSTON,  U.  S.  S.,  Chairman Virginia. 

Hon.  E.  H.  ROLLINS,  U.  S.  S New  Hampshire. 

Hon.  H.  L.  DAWKS,  U.  S.  S Massachusetts. 

Hon.  H.  B.  ANTHONY,  U.  S.  S Rhode  Island. 

Hon.  W.  W.  EATON,  U.  S.  S Connecticut. 

Hon.  FRANCIS  KERNAN,  U.  S.  S New  York. 

Hon.  T.  F.  RANDOLPH,  U.  S.  S New  Jersey. 

Hon.  W.  A.  WALLACE,  U.  S.  S. Pennsylvania. 

Hon.  T.  F.  BAYARD,  U.  S.  S Delaware. 

Hon.  W.  P.  WHYTE,  U.  S.  S Maryland. 

Hon.  M.  W.  RANSOM,  U.  S.  S North  Carolina. 

Hou.  M.  C.  BUTLER,  U.  S.  S South  Carolina. 

Hon.  BENJAMIN  H.  HILL,  U.  S.  S Georgia. 

Hon.  JOHN  GOODE,  M.  C Virginia. 

Hon.  JOSHUA  G.  HALL,  M.  C New  Hampshire. 

Hon.  G.  B.  LOWING,  M.  C Massachusetts. 

Hon.  N.  W.  ALDRICH,  M.  C Rhode  Island. 

Hon.  J.  R.  HAWLEY,  M.  C Connecticut. 

Hon.  NICHOLAS  MULLER,  M.  C New  York. 

Hon.  L.  A.  BRIGHAM,  M.  C New  Jersey. 

Hon.  SAMUEL  B.  DICK,  M.  C Pennsylvania. 

Hon.  E.  L.  MARTIN,  M.  C  Delaware. 

Hon.  J.  F.  C.  TALBOTT,  M.  C Maryland. 

Hon.  JOSEPH  J.  DAVIS,  M.  C North  Carolina. 

Hon.  J.  S.  RICHARDSON,  M.  C South  Carolina. 

Hon.  HENRY  PERSONS,  M.  C Georgia. 

The  committee  met  in  Washington  on  the  14th  day  of  June,  1880,  and 
organized.  John  S.  Tucker  was  appointed  clerk  and  secretary  of  the 
committee,  and  William  S.  Oilman,  disbursing  agent. 

By  a  joint  resolution  of  your  two  Houses,  approved  March  3, 1881,  the 
joint  committee  was  converted  into  a  joint  commission,  the  personnel  of 
the  organization  remaining  unchanged. 

This  Commission  invited  Lieut.  Col.  H.  C.  Corbin,  U.  S.  A.,  to  act  as 
master  of  ceremonies,  and  in  that  capacity  Colonel  Corbin  rendered 

7 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

great  service  to  the  Commission  in  making  and  carrying  out  the  neces 
sary  arrangements.  At  the  request  of  the  Commission,  Lieut.  Col.  Win. 
P.  Craighill,  U.  S.  A.,  was  detailed  by  the  Secretary  of  War  to  proceed 
to  Yorktown  and  make  the  requisite  surveys  to  enable  the  Commission 
to  select  a  site  for  the  monument,  superiDtend  the  construction  of 
wharves,  lay  out  a  camp  for  the  reception  of  the  military,  and  make  the 
needed  local  dispositions  for  the  object  proposed. 

This  duty  Colonel  Craighill  performed  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the 
Commission. 

It  was  decided  to  select  as  the  site  of  the  monument  a  plat  ot  ground 
adjoining  the  village  of  Yorktown,  situated  on  the  bluff  overlooking 
the  York  River,  and  commanding  a  magnificent  view  up  and  down  that 
river,  and  from  which  the  monument  when  completed  will  be  visible  for 
many  miles  to  outgoing  and  incoming  vessels. 

The  ground  selected  was  purchased  and  paid  for  by  the  honorable 
Secretary  of  War,  and  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  by  act  of  April  ±J, 
1882,  gave  its  consent  to  the  transfer  of  the  property  to  the  United 
States,  and  ceded  the  necessary  jurisdiction  over  it. 

The  title  to  the  property  has  been  approved  by  the  Attorney-General, 
and  the  conveyance  duly  made  to  the  United  States. 

The  Commission,  in  carrying  out  the  instructions  of  Congress,  deter 
mined  upon  a  plan  of  commemorative  exercises  covering  four  days  at 
Yorktown,  at  which  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  his  Cabinet? 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  the  Members  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  the  Governors  and  Com 
missioners  of  States,  the  General  of  the  Army,  the  Admiral  of  the 
2s"avy,  the  Society  of  The  Cincinnati,  and  other  distinguished  guests 
were  invited  to  be  present. 

The  Governors  of  the  several  States  appointed  the  following  Commis 
sioners  to  represent  their  respective  States : 

COMMISSIONERS  APPOINTED   BY   GOVERNORS   OF   STATES. 

Hon.  P.  W.  CARTER Tennessee. 

Maj.  S.  P.  HAMILTON South  Carolina. 

Hon.  MILO  P.  JEWETT,  LL.  I) Wisconsin. 

Hon.  IRVING  W.  STANTON Colorado. 

Capt.  JOHN  MILLEDGE Georgia. 

Hon.  JAMES  W.  McDiLL,  U.  S.  S : Iowa. 

Hon.  JAMES  T.  FARLEY,  U.  S.  S California. 

Hon.  W.  D.  WASHBURX,  M.  C Minnesota. 

Hon.  H.  G.  BLASDEL Nevada. 

Col.  THOMAS  SNELL Illinois. 

Hon.  SAMUEL  B.  CHURCHILL Kentucky. 

General  D.  B.  FRY Alabama. 

Hon.  R.  B.  PEEBLES North  Carolina. 

Hon.  PHILO PARSONS Michigan. 

General  LEWIS  PERRINE New  Jersey. 

Hon.  JAMES  W.  PATTERSON New  Hampshire. 

Hon.  JOHN  A.  KING  . .  . .  New  York. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Dr.  A.  C.  HAMLIX Maine. 

C'ol.  M.  GLEXXAN - -  -  Virginia. 

Hon.  JAMES  L.  D.  MORRISON ..Missouri. 

General  J.-  F.  HARTRAXFT Pennsylvania. 

Hon.  W.  H.. ENGLISH Indiana. 

Hon.  E.  F.  WARK Kansas. 

Hon.  E.  A.  GAMBLE -  -  Florida. 

General  \V.  H.  BULKELEY Connecticut. 

Hon.  B.  F.  BIGGS Delaware. 

Maj.  J.  L.  BARSTOW Vermont. 

Rev.  J.  P.  DUHAMEL  (acting) Oregon. 

General  JAMES  R.  CHALMERS Mississippi. 

Col.  SOL.  LINCOLN,  Jr Massachusetts. 

General  H.  ROGERS Rhode  Island. 

Hon.  JAMES  D.  WALKER,  U.  S.  8 Arkansas. 

Hon.  GEORGE  W.  THOMPSON' West  Virginia. 

Judge  M.  A.  DOUGHERTY Ohio. 

Col.  H.  S.  TAYLOR Maryland. 

Dr.  W.  J.  C.  DUHAMEL District  of  Columbia. 

Iii  accordance  with  a  joint  resolution  of  Congress,  approved  Febru  - 
ary  18, 1881,  the  President  extended  to  the  Government  and  people  of 
France  and  the  family  of  General  La  Fayette  a  cordial  invitation  to  unite 
with  the  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States  in  the  observance 
of  our  Centennial  at  York  town.  An  invitation  was  also  extended  to 
the  family  of  Major-General  the  Baron  von  Stenben. 

These  invitations  were  accepted,  and  the  Centennial  ceremonies  were 
graced  by  the  presence  of  a  French  Commission  of  many  distinguished 
representatives  of  the  French  nation  and  of  the  family  of  the  Marquis 
La  Fayette,  and  by  the  representatives  of  the  von  Steubeu  family,  a  list 
of  whom  is  herewith  transmitted. 

In  making  arrangements  for  a  proper  military  and  naval  display  for 
the  Centennial,  the  Commission  received  great  assistance  from  the  Sec 
retary  of  War,  Hon.  Eobert  T.  Lincoln,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
Hon.  William  H.  Hunt. 

The  Secretary  of  War  and  the  General  of  the  Army  did  all  in  their 
power  to  render  the  military  arrangements  complete.  For  this  purpose 
tents  and  camp  equipage  were  issued  for  an  encampment  sufficient  to 
accommodate  the  troops  expected,  and  every  assistance  rendered  that 
was  authorized  by  law.  At  the  proper  time  all  the  United  States  troops 
that  could  be  spared  from  garrison  duty  were  assembled  at  Yorktown 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  part  in  the  military  exercises  of  the  occasion. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and  the  Admiral  of  the  Navy  were  equally 
active  in  making  the  necessary  preparations  for  the  co-operation  of  the 
Navy.  The  North  Atlantic  Squadron,  under  Eear- Admiral  E.  H.  Wy- 
man,  was  ordered  to  Yorktown  for  the  purpose,  and,  in  addition,  the  train 
ing  ships  and  all  other  available  vessels. 

A  detailed  account  of  the  naval  operations  has  been  prepared,  at  the 
request  of  the  Commission,  by  the  Navy  Department,  and  is  submitted 
herewith. 


10  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

The  Commission  was  of  opinion  that,  in  order  to  insure  the  success 
of  the  military  features  of  the  celebration,  the  command  of  the  Govern 
ment  and  State  troops  that  were  expected  to  participate  should  be  com 
mitted  to  a  general  officer  of  the  United  States  Army  of  high  rank  and 
reputation,  and  therefore  requested  the  Secretary  of  War  to  select  such 
an  officer  for  that  purpose.  In  compliance  with  this  request,  the  Sec 
retary  of  War  designated  Maj.  Gen.  Winfield  Scott  Hancock,  U.  S. 
A.,  to  take  command  of  the  troops  and  direct  all  military  movements 
in  connection  with  the  celebration.  General  Hancock  immediately 
entered  upon  this  duty  with  great  zeal,  and,  assisted  by  his  able  and 
energetic  staff,  made  every  disposition  for  the  encampment  and  comfort 
of  the  troops. 

Although  obliged  to  contend  with  great  difficulties,  owing  to  the 
distance  of  Yorktown  from  the  trunk  lines  of  travel,  he  perfected 
arrangements  for  the  accommodation  of  20,000  men,  including  the  United 
States  and  state  forces,  and  a  large  body  of  U.  S.  veterans,  Knights 
Templar  and  other  Masonic  bodies. 

General  Hancock,  with  his  staff,  took  up  his  headquarters  at  York- 
town,  and  remained  there  during  the  celebration.  To  the  zeal  and 
ability  displayed  by  him  in  all  these  matters,  the  great  success  of  the 
military  display  is  largely  due. 

The  Commission  desire  particularly  to  recognize  the  services  of  Lieut. 
Col.  Wm.  P.  Craighill,  United  States  Engineer  Corps,  who  was  for 
months  engaged  at  Yorktown  in  making  arrangements  for  the  safe  and 
convenient  landing  of  visitors,  the  laying  out  of  the  encampment,  the 
preparation  of  the  grounds  for  the  military  exercises,  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone  of  the  monument,  and  the  construction  of  the  buildings  and 
other  structures  for  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  those  who  were  to 
participate  in  the  Centennial  ceremonies.  His  efforts  were  untiring,  and 
all  his  dispositions  were  made  with  judgment,  skill,  and  economy.  The 
report  of  Colonel  Craighill  is  herewith  submitted. 

The  services  of  Lieut.  Col.  H.  C.  Corbiu,  Assistant  Adjutant-General, 
United  States  Army,  were  also  of  great  value  to  the  Commission.  He 
was  engaged  for  some  time  prior  to  the  celebration  in  correspondence 
with  the  various  military  and  other  organizations,  making  a  roster  of 
those  who  notified  their  intention  to  be  present,  arranging  for  trans 
portation,  and  imparting  desired  information.  The  buildings  used 
during  the  Centennial  exercises  were  furnished  and  decorated  under 
his  supervision.  As  master  of  ceremonies  he  had  charge  of  the  details 
of  the  celebration  and  the  execution  of  the  programme,  and  assisted 
the  Commission  in  the  entertainment  of  the  guests. 

In  selecting  a  site  for  the  monument  the  Commission  found  it  neces 
sary  to  have  a  survey  made  of  Yorktown  and  its  surroundings.  Gen 
eral  Tidball,  commanding  at  Fortress  Monroe  in  the  absence  of  Gen 
eral  Getty,  kindly  offered  to  have  the  survey  made  under  the  super 
vision  of  the  officers  of  the  Artillery  School  at  that  place.  His  offer 


YOKKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  11 

was  accepted,  the  survey  made,  and  a  very  accurate  map  of  Yorktown, 
showing  the  lines  occupied  in  1781  by  the  hostile  armies,  was  prepared 
from  this  survey  by  Lieut.  L.  V.  Caziarc,  U.  S.  A.,  for  the  use  of  the 
Commission. 

THE  MONUMENT. 

In  pursuance  of  section  2  of  the  act  of  June  7,  1880,  the  Secretary 
of  War  appointed  E.  M.  Hunt,  esq.,  of  New  York,  J.  Q.  A.  Ward,  esq.7 
of  New  York,  and  Henry  Van  Brunt,  esq.,  of  Boston,  a  commission  of 
artists  to  recommend  a  suitable  design  for  the  monument. 

This  commission  submitted  a  very  appropriate  design,  which,  after 
some  slight  modifications,  was  approved  by  the  Congressional  Commis 
sion,  and  the  monument  will  be  erected  in  accordance  therewith  under 
the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  who  has  assigned  Lieut.  Col. 
William  P.  Craighill,  U.  S.  A.,  to  superintend  its  construction. 

The  following  extract  from  the  report  of  the  commission  of  artists 
conveys  the  emblematic  significance  of  the  monument: 

From  the  point  of  view  of  sentiment,  this  monument  is  intended  to  convey,  in 
architectural  language,  the  idea,  set  forth  in  the  dedicatory  inscription,  that,  by  the 
victory  at  Yorktown,  the  independence  of  the  United  States  of  America  was  achieved,  or 
brought  to  tmal  accomplishment. 

The  four  sides  of  the  base  contain,  first,  an  inscription  dedicating  the  monument 
as  a  memorial  of  the  victory  ;  second,  an  inscription  presenting  a  succinct  narrative 
of  the  siege,  prepared  in  accordance  with  the  original  archives  in  the  Department  of 
State  ;  third,  the  treaty  of  alliance  with  tke  King  of  France;  and,  fourth,  the  treaty 
of  peace  with  the  King  of  England.  In  the  pediments  over  these  four  sides,  respect 
ively,  are  presented,  carved  in  relief,  first,  emblems  of  nationality;  second,  emblems 
of  war  ;  third,  emblems  of  the  alliance ;  and,  fourth,  emblems  of  peace. 

The  base  is  thus  devoted  to  the  historical  statement ;  it  explains  the  subsequent 
incidents  of  the  monumental  composition,  which  are  intended  solely  to  appeal  to  the 
imagination.  The  immediate  result  of  the  historical  events  written  upon  the  base 
was  the  happy  establishment  of  a  national  union  of  thirteen  youthful,  free,  and  in 
dependent  States.  To  celebrate  this  joyful  union  the  sculptor  has  represented  upon 
the  circular  podium,  which  arises  from  the  base,  a  solemn  dance  of  thirteen  typical 
female  figures,  hand-in-hand,  encircling  the  drum,  which  bears  upon  a  belt  beneath 
their  feet  the  word  "  One  country,  one  constitution,  one  destiny."  It  is  a  symbol  of  the 
birth  of  freedom. 

The  column  which  springs  from  this  podium  may  be  accepted  as  the  symbol  of  the 
greatness  and  prosperity  of  the  nation  after  a  century  of  various  experience,  wheii 
thirty-eight  free  and  independent  States  are  shining  together  in  mighty  constellation. 
It  is  the  triumphant  sign  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise — an  expression  of  the 
strength  and  beauty  of  the  Union  ;  but  the  powerful  nation  does  not  forget  the  re 
mote  beginning  of  its  prosperity,  and,  in  the  midst  of  its  shining  stars,  bears  aloft 
the  shield  of  Yorktown  covering  the  branch  of  peace. 

As  the  existence  of  the  nation  is  a  proof  of  the  possibility  of  a  government  of  the 
people  by  the  people  for  the  people,  the  column,  ihns  adorned,  culminates  with  Lib 
erty  herself,  star-crowned,  and  welcoming  the  people  of  all  nations  to  share  equally 
with  us  the  fruits  of  our  peace  and  prosperity. 


12  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Tlie  inscriptions  on  the  base  of  the  monument  are  to  be  a$  follows  : 

NORTH   SIDE. 

Erected 

In  pursuance  of 

A  Uesolutiou  of  Congress  adopted  October  29,  1781. 
Aiid  an  Act  of  Congress  approved  June  7.  1880, 
To  commemorate  the  Victory 

By  which 

The  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America 
Was  achieved. 

SOTTH  SIDE. 

At  York  on  October  19,  1781, 
After  a  Siege  of  nineteen  Days, 

By  5,r>00  American  and  7,000  French  Troops  of  the  Line, 
3.500  Virginia  Militia  under  command  of  General  Thomas  Nelson, 
And  'i6  French  Ships  of  War. 

Earl  CORNWALLIS, 
Conm. antler  of  the  British  Forces  at  York  and  Gloucester, 

Surrendered  His  Army, 
7,251  Officers  and  Men,  840  Seamen,  244  Cannon,  and  24  Standards, 

To  His  Excellency  GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Combined  Forces  of  America  and  France, 

To  His  Excellency  the  Comte  DE  ROCHAMBEAU, 
Commanding  the  Auxiliary  Troops  of  His  Most  Christian  Majesty  in  America, 

And  to  His  Excellency  the  Comte  DE  GRASSE, 
Commanding-in-Chief  the  Naval  Army  of  France  in  Chesapeake. 

WEST  SIDE. 
The  Treaty 

Concluded  February  6,  1.778, 

Between  the  United  States  of  America 

And  Louis  XVI,  King  of  France, 

Declares 

The  Essential  and  Direct  End 
Of  the  present  Defensive  Alliance 

Is  to  Maintain  Effectually 

The  Liberty,  Sovereignty,  and  Independence, 

Absolute  and  Unlimited, 

Of  the  said  United  States 

As  well  in  Matters  of  Government  as  of  Commerce. 

EAST   SIDE. 

Thes  Provisional  Articles  of  Peace, 

Concluded  November  30,  1782, 
And  the  Definitive  Treaty  of  Peace, 

Concluded  September  3,  1783, 

Between  the  United  States  of  America 

And  George  III,  King  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 

Declare 

His  Britannic  Majesty  Acknowledges  the  said  United  States 

Vi/, :  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Bay,  Rhode  Island 

And  Providence  Plantations,  Connecticut,  New  York, 

New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 

Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 

South  Carolina,  and  Georgia, 
To  be  Free,  Sovereign,  and  Independent  States. 


THE    YORKTOWN    MONUMENT. 


YORKTONVN    CELEBRATION.  13 


THE  CENTENNIAL  EXERCISES. 

The  order  of  exercises  originally  adopted  by  the  Commission  embraced 
four  days,  beginning  October  IS,  1881.  They  included,  on  the  first  day, 
the  laying*  of  the  corner  stone  of  the  monument  with  masonic  ceremo 
nies,  an  addresss  of  welcome  by  thefc  governor  of  Virginia,  and  intro 
ductory  remarks  by  the  chairman  of  the  Commission  5  on  the  second 
day,  October  19,  the  anniversary  of  the  surrender,  an  address  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  a  Centennial  oration,  poem,  and  ode  ; 
on  the  third  day,  October  20,  a  grand  military  parade  and  review ;  and 
on  the  fourth  day,  October  21,  a  grand  naval  drill  and  review. 

In  selecting  a  Centennial  orator, your  Commissioners  desired  to  choose 
one  whose  character  and  abilities  would  insure  an  address  commensur 
ate  with  the  occasion,  and  they  unanimously  concurred  in  requesting 
the  Hoir.  Robert  0.  Wiuthrop,  of  Massachusetts,  to  deliver  the  oration. 

Mr.  Winthrop  consented  to  comply  with  their  request,  and  the  man 
ner  in  which  he  discharged  the  trust  is  the  best  evidence  of  the  wisdom 
of  their  choice.  They  have  obtained  from  Mr.  Winthrop  a  copy  of  his 
oration,  and  it  is  herewith  transmitted  to  Congress  as  a  part  of  this  re 
port,  in  order  that  the  eloquent  utterances  of  the  distinguished  orator 
may  be  transmitted  to  posterity  with  the  history  of  the  occasion  that 
called  them  forth. 

The  Commission  invited  James  Barron  Hope,  esq.,  of  Virginia,  to  de. 
liver  the  Centennial  poem,  and  he  complied  in  an  epic  poem  of  great 
power  and  beauty.     Paul  H.  Hayne,  esq.,  of  South  Carolina,  was  se 
lected  to  write  the  ode  for  the  occasion,  and  responded  in  a  most  appro 
priate  invocation. 

Mr.  Hope's  poem  and  Mr.  Hayne'sode  have  been  furnished  at  the  re 
quest  of  the  Commission,  and  are  herewith  submitted  as  part  of  this 
report. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Nelson,  D.  D.,  of  Virginia,  grandson  of  Thomas  Nel 
son,  governor  of  Virginia,  who  commanded  the  militia  of  that  State  at 
the  siege  of  Yorktown,  was  invited  to  open  the  exercises  of  the  first  day? 
and  the  Rev.  William  L.  Harris,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  New  York,  bishop 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  those  of  the  second  day,  with 
prayer. 

In  accordance  with  the  programme  adopted  by  the  Commission,  the 
guests  of  the  United  States  assembled  at  Washington,  on  Monday, 
October  17,  1881,  and  proceeded  thence  with  the  National  and  State 
officials  to  Yorktown,  on  steamers  provided  by  the  Government. 

On  their  arrival  at  Yorktown,  on  Tuesday,  the  18th,  they  were  re 
ceived  by  his  excellency  F.  W.  M.  Holliday,  governor  of  Virginia,  in 
La  Fayette  Hall. 

The  order  of  exercises  was  as  follows : 


14  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 


ORDER    OF    EXERCISES. 
TUESDAY,  OCTOBER  18. 

10*  A.  M. 
OUT-DOOR  CONCERT. 

AT   GRAND    STAND,    MONUMENT  SITE,   BY   THE   THIRD   UNITED   STATES   ARTILLERY 
BAND,    WILLIAM    IHNENFELDT,    LEADER. 

1  .  OVERTURE  —  "  Jolly  Robbers  "  ............................................  Suppe. 

^.  DUETTO—"  II  Masuadieri  "  ...............................................  Verdi. 

3.  SELECTION  —  Barbe  Bleu  ..............................................  Offenbach. 

4.  MUSICAL  MELANGE—  "  This  and  That  •"  .................................  Boettger. 

f>.  SELECTION  —  Huguenots  ..............................................  Meyerbeer. 

$.  INTRODUCTION  —  Nonna  .................................................  Bellini. 

7.  OVERTURE  —  Nabucco  .....................................................  Verdi. 

3.  SELECTION  —  "A  Night  in  Granada  "  ....................................  Kreul^er 

i>.  WALTZ—"  Lea  Sirenes  ''  .............................................  JTaldtenfel. 

10.  GRAND'NATIONAL  MEDLEY  POTPOURRI  ................................  Hein  ieke. 

AT    MILITARY   CAMP,    BY   NORTH   CAROLINA    STATE    BAND,    W.    II.    NEAVE,    DIRECTOR. 

1.  OVERTURE  —  "  Christian  Reid  "  ...........................................  Scare. 

2.  WALTZES—'*  Blue  Danube  "  .............................................  Strauss. 

3.  POLONAISE  ON  FIFTH  AIR  ............................................  De  Beriot. 

4.  SELECTION  OF  POPULAR  AIRS. 

f».  SELECTION  —  *'  Barber  of  Seville  "  .......................................  Rossini. 


„ 

7.  SELECTION  —  "  Lurline  "  ................................................  iraltace. 

tf.  QUICK  MARCH  —  "  Fire  of  Youth  "  ..................  ......................  Scare. 

!>.  HALLELUJAH  CHORUS  ..................................................  Handel. 

i  ii.  GOD  SAVE  OUR  PRESIDENT  FROM  HARM  ..........................  MiUard. 

10.  s  b.  WASHINGTON'S  GRAND  MARCH  .....................................  - 

(  c.  OLD  NORTH  STATE  .................................................  Gaston. 

11  A.  M. 

RECEPTION    BY   THE   GOVERNOR   OF    VIRGINIA. 

At   La  Fayette  Hall, 

Of  the  President  and  his  Cabinet,  the  Guests  of  the  Nation,  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  the 

Congressional  Commission,  the  Governors  and  Commissioners 

of  the  States,  and  The  Soeiety  of  The  Cincinnati. 

At  11  a.  in.  the  masonic  procession  formed  in  the  following  order  and 
proceeded  to  the  site  of  the  monument  : 

THE  XASOXIC  PROCESSIOX. 
M.  W.  Robert  Enoch  Withers,  P.  G.  M.,  Grand  Marshal. 

Tiler,  with  Drawn  Sword. 
Other  Tilers  of  Subordinate  Lodges,  six  abreast,  with  Drawn  Swords. 


YORK/TOWN    CELEBRATION.  15 

MUSIC. 

Two  Stewards  with  White  Rods. 
Master  Masons,  six  abreast. 
Junior  Deacons,  six  abreast. 
Senior  Deacons,  six  abreast. 

Secretaries,  six  abreast. 

• 
Treasurers,  six  abreast. 

Visiting  Brethren  from  other  Grand  Jurisdictions  in  charge  of  the  Committee  on  As 
signment  of  Quarters. 

ESCORT. 

Grand  Commanderv  of  Virginia  and  its  Subordinates. 

Grand  Commanderies  of  other  States  and  their  Subordinates. 

Worshipful  James  M.  Taylor,  Grand  Tiler,  with  Drawn  Sword,  and 

Brother  James  E.  Riddick,  Grand  Pursuivant. 

Junior  Wardens,  six  abreast. 

Senior  Wardens,  six  abreast. 

Past  Masters,  six  abreast. 

Present  Masters,  six  abreast. 

District  Deputy  Grand  Masters,  six  abreast. 

Medical  Staff. 
Golden  Vessel  with  Corn,  by  the  Most  Worshipful  Samuel  C.  Lawrence,  Grand  Master 

of  Massachusetts. 

Square,  Level,  and  Plumb,  by  the  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Masters  Horace  S.  Taylor 
of  New  York,  John  S.  Tyson,  of  Maryland,  and  Samuel  B.  Dick, 

of  Pennsylvania. 
The  Golden  Vessels,  with  Wine  and  Oil,  by  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Masters  Henry  F. 

Grainger,  of  North  Carolina,  and  Thomas  Vincent,  of  Rhode  Island. 
Right  Worshipful  Oscar  M.  Marshall,  Grand  Treasurer,  and  Right  Worshipful  W. 

Byran  Isaacs,  Grand  Secretary. 
Tuscan  and  Composit  Orders  of  Architecture,  by  the  Worshipful  Masters  of  Lodges 

Nos.  19  and  18,  of  Virginia. 
Doric.  Ionic,  and  Corinthian  Orders,  by  the  Worshipful  Masters  of  Lodges  Nos.  15,  14, 

and  13,  of  Virginia, 

!  „     J  One  Large  Light,  by  the  Worshipful  Master  of  Lodge  No.  10,  of  Virginia. 
Holy  Bible,  Square,  and  Compass,  by  the  Worshipful  Master  of  Lodge 

No.  5,  of  Virginia. 

Two  Large  l.i-hts,  by  the  Worshipful  Masters  of  Lodges  Nos.  4  and  3,  of  Virginia. 
Grand  Masters  of  States  other  than  of  the  Thirteen  Original  States,  in  charge  of  the 

Committee  on  Reception. 

Right  Worshipful  Reuben  Murrel  Page,  Deputy  Grand  Master, 

accompanied  by  the  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Masters  of  States  of  South 

Carolina,  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire,  and  Delaware. 

Grand  Chaplain,  Right  Worshipful  A.  Poe  Boude,  p.  t. 

Grand  Orator,  Most  Worshipful  Beverley  R.  Wellford,  Jr.,  Past  Grand  Master. 


16  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Most  Worshipful  William  B.  Taliaferro,  Grand  Senior  Warden,  p.  t.,  arid  Right  Wor 
shipful  Henry  W.  Murray,  Grand  Junior  Warden. 
Book  of  Constitutions,  by  the  Worshipful  Master  of  Lodge  No.  1. 

Right  Worshipful  F.  H.  Hill,  Grand  Senior  Deacon,  and 
.  Right  Worshipful  W.  F.  Drinkard,  Grand  Junior  Deaeou,  on  the  right 

and  left  of  Most  Worshipful  Peyton  S.  Coles,  Grand  Master, 
Wearing  the  Sash  and  Apron  presented  to  Brother  George  Washington 

by  Brother  La  Fayette. 

Two  Stewards  with  white  Rods. 

Grand  Sword-bearer,  with  Drawn  Sword. 


At  12  o'clock  noon,  the  exercises  were  opened  by  Hon.  John  W. 
Johnston,  Chairman  of  the  Congressional  Commission,  a,nd  proceeded 
in  the  following  order : 

PRAYER,  BY  REV.  ROBERT  NELSON,  D.  1)., 

(Grandson  of  Governor  Thomas  Nelson,  who  commanded  the  militia  of  Virginia   at 

the  siege  of  Yorktown.) 

Almighty  God,  Creator  and  Supreme  Etiler  of  mankind,  we  beseech 
Thee,  look  with  favor  on  Thy  people  here  assembled,  who  now  otter 
thanks  and  praise  to  Thee  for  a  hundred  years  of  blessing  to  our  fathers 
and  to  us. 

We  adore  Thee  for  Thy  guiding  hand  and  fostering  care  extended  to 
our  fathers  in  their  time  of  need,  for  the  courage,  strength,  and  wisdom 
given  them  to  bring  to  a  happy  end  their  efforts  to  found  and  defend 
this  nation. 

We  praise  Thee,  Lord  of  Hosts,  that  in  the  infancy  and  weakness  of 
our  people,  Thou  didst  raise  up  to  them  Washington — as  Moses  to  Thy 
ancient  Israel — to  be  their  leader. 

We  praise  Thee,  that  Thou  providedst  for  him  helpers,  wise  in  coun 
cil  and  valiant  in  the  field ;  and  that,  when  they  were  still  unequal  to 
the  foe,  Thou  didst  bring  them  friends  from  far — whose  representatives 
are  here  to-day — and  make  the  winds  and  waves  to  fight  for  them,  as,  of 
old,  by  Thy  good  Providence,  "the  stars  fought  against  Sisera"  and 
on  Thy  peoples'  side. 

And  now,  God  of  our  fathers,  we  worship  Thee  and  magnify  Thy 
name  for  that  Thou  hast  made  ns  a  great  nation — multiplying  our  peo 
ple  mightily,  and  stretching  out  our  borders  to  the  great  sea  westward r 
and  hast  given  us  such  favor  in  the  eyes  of  other  nations  that  our  coun 
try  7s  sorrow  has  been  to  them  as  their  own. 

Forbid  it,  Lord,  that  we  should  be  lifted  up  with  pride  and  say  u  our 
wisdom  and  might  have  done  all  this  for  us,"  lest  Thou,  in  whose  sight 
the  nations  are  as  nothing,  who  puttestdown  one  and  settestup  another  at 
Thy  will,  shouldst  take  from  us  our  place  and  give  it  unto  others.  Help 
us  to  take  warning  from  Thy  judgments  heretofore  sent  on  us  in  war 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

and  pestilence  and  our  lafesad  bereavement,  and  remei 
Lord,  rulest  in  the  armies  of  heaven  and  among  the  iuhl 
earth. 

We  give  Thee  hearty  thanks,  our  gracious  God,  that  by  Tl 
our  country  is  at  p^aee   with  all  the  world,  and,  especially, 
Thee,  that  our  kindred  people,  with  whom,  a  hundred  years  ago,  our 
fathers  were  at  war,  are  now  our  cordial  friends. 

Give  grace  to  Christian  rulers  that  they  may  learn  from  the  good  re 
sults  of  the  arbitration  at  Geneva  and  of  the  congress  at  Berlin  that  it 
is  both  possible  and  wiser  far,  as  well  as  more  becoming  men,  to  settle 
their  disputes  around  the  council  board  of  peace  than  on  the  bloody 
field  of  war.  Grant  that  the  growing  intercourse  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth  may  increase  good  will  among  men  as  children  of  one  family 
and  brethren  of  one  blood. 

Grant  that  the  dissensions — sectional  and  partisan — which  have  rent 
our  country  and  divided  our  people  in  the  past  may  not  again  disturb 
us,  and  that  this  reunion  at  the  birthplace  of  our  country's  life  may  be 
the  earnest  of  better  things  to  come. 

Help  us  to  pledge  our  faith  each  to  the  other  here  before  Thee,  God 
of  our  fathers,  and  in  grateful  memory  of  them  and  of  their  faithful 
friends,  that  we  will  henceforth  strive  to  live  truly  to  thy  honor  and  our 
country's  good. 

We  beseech  Thee,  mercifully  to  forgive  us  all  our  sins,  national  and 
individual,  for  Christ,  our  Savior's  sake.  Deliver  us  from  dishonesty 
and  wrong,  from  violence  and  murder,  from  impurity  and  drunkenness. 
May  we  keep  even  before  us  Thy  holy  law,  as  the  only  true  standard  of 
right  living,  in  all  our  doings,  personal,  family,  and  public. 

Bless,  Lord,  Thy  church  throughout  this  land,  and  grant  that  the 
comfortable  gospel  of  Christ  may  be  truly  preached,  truly  received,  and 
truly  followed  in  all  places,  to  the  breaking  down  of  sin  and  Satan. 
Give,  we  beseech  Thee,  to  the  powers  that  be  among  us  such  grace  and 
wisdom  that  both  they  themselves  may  be  examples  of  purity,  integrity, 
and  trnth,  and  that,  remembering  their  accountability  to  Thee,  they  may 
truly  and  impartially  administer  justice  to  the  punishment  of  wicked 
ness  and  vice,  and  to  the  maintenance  of  Thy  true  religion  and  virtue, 
and  that  all  vexed  questions,  whether  Indian,  Mormon,  Chinese,  or 
aught  else  foreboding  trouble  to  our  land,  may  be  so  ordered  and  set 
tled  by  their  endeavors  on  the  best  and  surest  foundations,  that  peace 
and  happiness,  truth  and  justice,  religion  and  piety,  may  be  established 
among  us  for  all  generations. 

These  blessings  we  humbly  beg,  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord,  and, 
in  the  prayer  He  taught  us,  would  unite  our  hearts  and  voices,  and  say  : 
"Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven,  Hallowed  be  Thy  wiine.  Thy  king 
dom  come.  Thy  will  be  done  in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.  Give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread.  And  forgive  us  our  debts  as  we  forgive  our  debt 
ors.  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil :  For 
Thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory,  forever.  Amen." 
S.  Rep.  1003 2 


18  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

The  Star  Spangled  Banner, 

Sung  l»y  three  hundred  voices,  under  the  leadership  "of  Prof.  Charles  L.  Seigel,  of 
Richmond,  Vn.     The  accompaniment  by  the  Tinted  States  Marine  Hand. 


At  its  conclusion  the  United  States  flag  was  unfurled  and  saluted 
by  the  land  batteries  and  war  vessels  in  the  harbor. 


ADDltESS    OF    WELCOME, 
By  His  Excellency  F.  W.  M.  HOLLIDAY,  Governor  of  Virginia. 

This  vast  assembly  lias  met  to  witness  the  fulfilment  of  the  republic's 
promise. 

A  century  ago  the  spot  where  we  are  now  gathered  was  the  scene  of 
an  event  which  introduced  the  colonies  into  the  family  of  nations. 

Feeling  assured  that  their  Declaration  of  independence  had  been 
verified,  and  their  career  as  a  power  had  begun,  tlisy  resolved  to  build 
here  a  monument  to  testify  their  gratitude  for  signal  services  and  de 
voted  patriotism,  and  proclaim  their  high  purposes  to  all  after  times. 

The  war  had  been  long  and  bloody.  Fortune  had  for  years  alter 
nately  smiled  and  frowned.  Now,  a  victory  gained  after  weary  delay 
and  suffering,  the  result  of  plans  deeply  laid  and  vigorously  prosecuted, 
or  snatched  by  the  sturdy  genius  of  a  .people  determined  to  be  free, 
inspired  the  whole  land  with  hope  and  enthusiasm.  And  now  a  defeat, 
coming  when  the  armies  felt  that  they  were  marching  to  a  victory 
almost  Avon,  or  falling  upon  them  suddenly  as  a  severe  and  unexpected 
calamity,  cast  a  gloom  which  seemed  to  obscure  the  vision  of  freedom, 
which  had  been  their  pole-star  from  the  beginning. 

But  when  the  ships  of  our  great  ally  spread  their  sails  in  the  beauti 
ful  waters  toward  which  we  are  now  looking,  and  her  brilliant  troops 
stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  war-worn  and  battle  scarred  men 
who  had  inarched  and  fought  and  grown  old  in  their  country's  service, 
and  when  by  their  united  will  the  blow  was  struck  whose  one  hundredth 
anniversary  we  this  day  celebrate,  then  the  colonies  were  sure  the  wrork 
was  done,  and  they  stepped  forth  in  full  armor  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth. 

Yet  neither  America,  nor  France,  nor  England  had  any  adequate  idea 
of  the  event  and  its  marvelous  influences.  Each  felt,  I  doubt  not,  that 
the  final  battle  had  been  fought,  and  the  war  ended.  Each  was  satisfied 
that  the  colonies  had  wrested  themselves  from  the  parent  country,  and 
that  the  British  empire  had  lost  its  supremacy  here.  All  were  con 
vinced  that  a  young  and  hardy  people  had  started,  as  it  were,  at  mid- 
noon,  with  the  garnered  lessons  of  centuries  of  national  life  abroad,  to 
erect  upon  the  virgin  soil  of  a  new  continent  institutions  of  novel  mean- 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  19 

ing,  and  to  suffer  an  experience  which  had  never  been  tested  before. 
But  none  knew  or  dared  to  think  of  how  the  inspiration  of  its  genius 
was  to  penetrate  the  sealed  confines  of  the  civilizations  of  Europe,  and 
to  stir  them  with  strange  and  resistless  forces,  or  of  how  the  throbbings 
of  its  life  were  to  fill  the  people  with  an  unheard  of  vitality,  and  its 
growth  outstrip  anything  hitherto  known  in  the  world's  history. 

By  a  blessed  providence  this  vitality  and  growth  have  not  been  fed 
by  conquest  nor  decked  with  the  trophies  of  the  subjugated,  nor  the 
civilization  they  inspire  been  proclaimed  by  the  exhibition  of  spoils 
snatched  from  those  who  had  gone  down  before  its  remorseless  arms. 
It  has  made  here  a  home  for  the  exile  whose  fortunes  in  his  native  laud 
have  been  clouded  by  life's  vicissitudes ;  it  is  a  refuge  from  those  older 
countries  whose  population  has  pressed  upon  the  means  of  subsistence ; 
it  is  an  asylum  to  which  the  afflicted  everywhere  come  and  find  plenty 
and  peace.  From  the  time  when  its  banner  was  lifted  above  the  smoke 
of  bat-tie  and  planted  on  this  site  it  has  been  subject  to  constant  inva 
sion.  Year  after  year  during  the  century  just  gone  tide  after  tide  of 
population  has  been  thrown  upon  its  soil.  But  they  came  not  to  devas 
tate  or  destroy,  not  to  lay  waste  by  fire  and  sword,  not  with  the  spirit 
of  the  Bomaii,  the  Teuton,  or  the  Xormau — they  came  and  still  come, 
the  best  fruits  of  other  civilizations,  to  enlarge  the  capabilities  and 
swell  the  current  of  the  Eepublic's  life. 

To  this  history  has  no  parallel.  The  people  who  settled  along  the 
Atlantic,  differing  from  each  other  in  their  traits,  were  yet,  through 
those  differences,  alike  in  manly  vigor  and  high  resolve.  Animated  by 
various  motives  in  leaving  the  places  of  their  nativity  to  come  to  a  wild 
and  broken  wilderness,  but  with  none  that  were  not  heroic  and  worthy 
the  founders  of  an  empire;  of  different  religious  faith,  of  different  pur 
suits,  of  different  nationalities,  of  different  training,  of  different  modes 
of  thought,  of  different  races,  yet  all  with  that  subtle  bond  of  sympathy 
which  made  them  feel  as  one,  and  molded  them  into  a  race  tit  to  take 
charge  of  the  destinies  of  a  continent. 

I  would  not  overrate  nor  underrate  these  men.  Time  enough  has 
gone  for  the  mists  of  prejudice  to  have  drifted  away  from  their  impos 
ing  figures.  We  can  now  regard  them  and  study  their  words  and  works 
as  if  they  belonged  to  another  race  and  country,  and,  forgetting  an 
cestral  relations,  consider  them  simply  as  historic  characters.  And 
whether  you  look  upon  them  as  individuals  discharging  the  every  day 
duties  of  private  life/  as  soldiers  meeting  the  responsibilities  of  their 
calling  upon  the  march,  in  camp  or  on  the  field  of  arms,  or  as  moving  in 
the  loftier  arena  and  filling  the  higher  and  more  difficult  role  of  states 
manship,  they  have  never  been  surpassed  in  any  age,  ancient  or  modern. 
Whatever  they  do  or  whatever  they  say  is  done  and  said  with  the 
gravity  and  strength  of  men  acting  in  matters  of  serious  import,  and 
with  an  intellectual  grasp  and  manly  heroism  worthy  of  themselves. 

And  yet  we  must  not  forget  the  period  in  which  they  lived  and  acted, 
and  their  happy  surroundings,  and  how  much  they  were  indebted  to 


20  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

both.  They  were  in  a  new  country  of  boundless  extent  and  resources, 
and  around  them  no  malign  influences.  The  decisive  battles  in  church 
and  state — in  religion  and  politics — had  been  fought  in  Great  Britain 
and  on  the  Continent,  and  those  fundamental  ideas,  which  they  ac 
cepted  as  intuitive  and  primary,  were  the  results  of  many  centuries  of 
fierce,  bloody,  and  relentless  war.  These  were  the  outgrowth  of  years 
of  saddest  experience,  and  our  fathers  found  them  ready  to  their  hand, 
and  were  wise  enough  to  use  them. 

Their  declarations  and  bills  of  rights  were  not  original  with  them. 
The  contests  which  their  ancestors  beyond  the  sea  waged  with  their 
rulers  evolved  the  principles  which  these  declarations  and  bills  avow, 
and  which  they  made  the  corner-stones  of  the  institutions  we  now  enjoy. 
Keligion  had  already  passed  through  the  furnace  heated  seven-fold  by 
passion,  and  had  vindicated  its  true  position  in  the  conscience  and  in 
society.  Politics  had  been  struggling  through  historic  time  in  the 
thoughts  of  the  profoundest  thinkers  and  in  the  experience  of  men  to 
find  some  lauding  place  in  which  the  power  of  the  government  and  the 
liberty  of  the  individual  might  find  rest  and  harmonize.  The  results 
were  before  them,  and  whether  in  the  council  or  the  field  they  felt  by 
the  very  necessity  of  the  case  in  their  fight  with  centralized  power  the 
value  of  those  principles  which  had  been  wrought  out  in  their  father 
land  in  both  church  and  state.  There  was  no  hour  from  Lexington  to 
Yorktown  that  the  importance  of  individual  effort  was  not  appreciated, 
whether  hurrying  together  with  their  rifles  from  their  humble  homes  to 
strike  a  blow  like  that  at  King's  Mountain,  or  in  the  resolutions  of  Con 
gress  in  vindication  of  their  cause,  so  full  of  practical  sense  and  profound 
wisdom,  so  comprehensive  in  their  bearing,  and  so  in  accord  with  the 
people's  present  happiness  and  future  growth,  so  far-reaching  in  their 
,  import  and  involving  such  vast  consequences  to  the  race,  that  they 
seem  to  rise  above  ordinary  discussion,  and  sound  like  the  utterances 
of  heroes  "  in  the  parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the  world." 

Thus,  in  the  recognition  of  these  principles,  their  studies,  their  ex 
perience  as  colonists,  and  the  hardships  they  endured  in  their  struggle  for 
independence  taught  them  the  value  of  individual  effort,  and  resulted  in 
the  formation  of  a  pronounced  individual  character  that  has  never  been 
surpassed.  Not  forgetful  of  the  necessity  of  government,  nor  of  those 
bonds  into  which  they  were  born,  and  which  by  the  laws  of  their  being 
made  them  citizens  of  the  state,  they  yet  broke  away  from  those  tra 
ditional  errors,  which  announced  its  absolute  am>  despotic  supremacy. 
No  people  ever  acknowledged  the  authority  of  government  and  its  right- 
fulness  with  more  cheerful  and  willing  submission,  provided  its  true 
place  and  power  were  assigned  it  in  the  human  economy.  They  looked 
upon  it  not  as  an  independent  power  existing  by  virtue  of  some  inherent 
majesty  issuing  decrees,  as  by  right  divine  and  without  sympathy  with 
its  subjects,  nor  yet  as  a  mere  agent  in  the  hands  of  members  to  execute 
their  own  will  for  selfish  purposes,  regardless  of  the  feelings  and  inter 
ests  of  those  upon  whom  it  is  executed,  not  as  a  power,  distinct  and 


YORKTOWX    CELEBRATION.  21 

antagonistic,  but  rather  as  the  medium  for  the  expression  of  popular 
will,  so  organised  by  proper  checks  as  to  afford  protection  to  the  individ 
ual  whilst  he  was  working  out  his  own  destiny,  preventing  its  use  for 
evil  purposes,  and  compelling  it  to  perform  its  proper  functions  by  its 
own  normal  operations. 

The  consequence  was,  that  the  government  represented  not  solely  the 
organized  strength  of  the  community  :  It  represented  the  virtues  and 
excellencies  and  progress  of  the  individuals  and  of  the  society  which 
they  composed.  Imposing  no  restrain,  upon  the  individual's  efforts  in 
any  department  of  growth,  and  protecting  him  vrhilst  he  was  putting 
forth  his  energies  and  enjoying  the  fruits  of  their -exercise,  each  became 
the  complement  of  the  other,  and  presented  the  solution  of  the  problem 
long  sought  for,  but  hitherto  unfound,  of  the  harmonious  union  of  alle 
giance  and  protection. 

Nothing  like  this  in  its  extent  and  proportions  has  been  given  us  be 
fore.  .Republics  we  have  had,  and  democracies,  and  representative  gov 
ernments  ;  but  never  before,  in  ancient  or  modern  times,  has  universal 
suffrage  prevailed  as  it  does  here  over  such  an  area  of  country,  in  full 
recognition  of  the  rights  of  each  and  every  citizen,  whilst  there  is  also 
equal  recognition  of  the  supremacy  of  the  government  which  the  suf 
frage  makes,  and  by  which  it  is  at  the  same  time  controlled. 

This  is  the  wonder  of  this  age  of  wonders.  Thousands  and  hundreds 
of  thousands  are  constantly  meeting  in  city  and  country,  from  far  and 
near.  No  armed  men  are  with  them  to  command  the  peace.  The  ge 
nius  of  law  is  ever  present,  reigning  with  quiet  but  resistless  energy. 
See  this  immense  throng,  come  together  from  every  part  of  the  laud, 
animated  by  one  impulse  and  inspired  by  one  sentiment.  No  force  is 
needed  here ;  but  the  spirit  of  order,  which  elsewhere  has  found  its 
throne  in  organized  force,  here  dwells  in  each  and  every  heart,  and  rules 
with  imperial  sway.  This  monument  will  proclaim  to  the  future  gener 
ations  the  surrender  of  force,  and  the  triumph  of  law  ;  and  as  it  lifts  it 
self  so  proudly  by  this  gently  flowing  river,  to  mark  a  spot  so  famed,  will 
speak  in  its  own  structure  with  more  than  mortal  eloquence  of  how  so 
many  States  and  interests  have  been  blended  into  one  by  the  magic  of 
the  Republic's  life. 

Our  fathers  were  thus  ready  to  enter  upon  a  contest  with  nature's  ele 
ments.  The  capacities  of  the  people  were  evoked  and  centralized  in 
their  government.  A  continent  was  their  habitation,  embracing  every 
variety  of  soil,  and  climate,  and  production,  with  immense  rivers  and 
mountains  to  be  spanned  and  tunneled,  which  had  never  been  navi 
gated  or  explored  by  civilized  men.  Savages  held  possession  of  them, 
and  the  wilderness  thrust  itself  up  to  their  very  doors.  Nature  often  has 
been  too  powerful  for  man,  and  htis  held  him  in  check,  or  subjection,  by 
the  obstacles  it  has  presented  to  his  progress  or  by  the  terrors  with 
which  it  has  peopled  its  mysterious  domain.  Immense  regions  of  the 
aerth  yet  lie  unexplored,  or,  if  penetrated  by  a  few  courageous  spirits, 
only  to  show  how  vast  are  the  forces  which  yet  defy  subjugation. 


22  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Not  so  with  the  men  whose  fame  we  this  day  celebrate.  Little  colo 
nies  stretched  along  the  Atlantic,  between  the  mountain  and  the  sea, 
after  they  had  conquered  their  freedom  and  made  for  themselves  peace 
ful  homes,  the  habitations  of  religion  and  law,  after  they  had  thrown 
over  them  the  ajgis  of  an  independent  government,  they  then  went  forth 
to  bring  a  continent  under  their  dominion. 

And  those  very  forces  which  by  the  ignorant  are  regarded  as  monsters 
of  "  frightful  mien,"  by  the  -agencies  of  science  and  art  were  reduced  to 
thraldom  and  made  the  ministers  of  still  further  conquests.  The  men 
of  whom  we  speak,  and  whose  deeds  we  now  recall,  were  many  of  them 
not  only  skilled  in  the  mysteries  of  the  schools  and  abreast  of  their  age 
in  whatever  had  been  gathered  in  the  domain  of  knowledge — for  they 
had  been  educated  in  the  most  renowned  institutions  of  learning — but 
.among  them  were  discoverers  and  inventors  whose  fame  has  become 
world- wide.  And  in  the  generations  that  have  gone  since  then,  the  in 
dividuality  and  responsibility,  which  as  we  have  seen  were  born  with 
the  Republic,  have  produced  an  activity  nowhere  more  manifest  or  po 
tent,  which,  grappling  with  the  elements,  has  wielded  them  with  Titanic 
strength.  The  proportions  of  the  continent  have  been  reduced  into 
symmetry,  audits  boundless  resources  have  been  made  to  pay  tribute  not 
only  for  the  advancement  of  the  people  in  those  comforts  which  refine 
and  elevate,  and  make  up  the  definition  of  civilized,  but  which  go  to 
swell  a  nation's  greatness  and  mark  its  chiefest  glory. 

The  invitation  had  gone  forth  for  all  peoples  to  come  and  enjoy  with 
them*  this  great  heritage.  It  mattered  not  much  whence  or  in  what 
numbers  they  came,  the  Republic,  grown  and  growing  still  so  strong  by 
such  healthy  courses,  could  digest  and  assimilate  them.  It  was  of  little 
concern  what  were  their  views  on  religion  or  politics  ;  the  life  of  the  Re 
public  was  stronger  than  theirs.  Religion  was  free  ;  politics  was  free  ; 
the  discussion  of  both  was  free.  However  much  the  integrity  of  either 
was  assailed,  by  reason  of  their  inherent  virtue  both  survived.  All 
nationalities  mingled  in  the  common  tide.  Old  creeds,  old  prejudices, 
old  beliefs,  old  convictions,  traditions  hoary  with  age  ;  the  monarchist,. 
the  democrat,  the  republican,  the  catholic  of  every  order,  the  protes- 
tant  of  every  hue;  all  religions,  all  modes  of  political  and  philosophic 
thought  were  thrown  into  the  rushing  torrent,  but  they  only  gave  vigor 
and  directness  to  its  resistless  flow.  Whatever  their  variances  a  gen 
eration  only  is  required  to  bring  them  into  harmonious  assimilation. 
The  mighty  tide  rolls  on — Americans  all — as  the  inscription  on  this 
monument  will  declare,  with  u  one  country,  one  constitution,  one  des 
tiny  ; "  about  them  a  continent  with  the  wealth  of  a  Promised  Land ;  above 
them  the  stars  iookingdown  propitiously  from  their  far-off  habitations, 
as  they  looked  down  in  the  olden  times  upon  their  fathers ;  from  every  fire 
side  in  their  midst  and  from  every  country  where  God's  name  is  known 
and  honored,  daily  prayers  for  this  last  and  noblest  blessing  to  man 
kind. 

Who  can  fully  appreciate  its  magnitude  or, its  extended  influence? 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  23 

Hitherto,  by  reason  of  the  peculiar  social  and  governmental  organiza 
tion  only  a  portion,  and  often  a  very  small  portion,  of  the  people  have 
been  heard  in  history.  The  real  and  entire  power  of  a  nation  was 
rarely  if  ever  evoked.  Classes  or  castes  divided  the  community  into 
segments.  One  or  more  of  these  segments  always  spoke  alone  or  led  in 
public  affairs.  Now  and  here  the  various  pursuits  and  professions  and 
callings  constitute  one  whole,  and,  in  the  movements  of  the  mass,  are 
ever  shifting  and  commingling.  No  position  is  so  high  that  it  may  not 
one  day  be  low,  and  none  so  humble  that  it  may  not  be  represented  in 
the  high  places  of  the  Republic. 

But  truth  and  right  are  sempiternal  and  change  not.  Men  come  and 
go,  but  they  survive.  And  when  the  "volume  of  their  book"  is  open, 
freely  to  be  read,  the  generations  they  pass  gather  on  their  way  and 
transmit  to  each  succeeding  a  larger  measure  of  their  precious  treasures. 
Thus  it  is  that  the  common  reason  of  humanity,  of  more  value  than  the 
philosophy  of  the  schools,  fixes  in  its  experience  the  standards  of  the 
race.  • 

Who  can  tell  what  those  standards  will  be  with  us?  One  experiment 
has  not  yet  been  fully  tried.  A  century  is  but  a  span  in  a  nation's  life 
time.  In  the  freedom  and  activity  which  prevail,  working  amid  such 
diverse  materials,  molding  gradually  into  shape  a  composite  civilization, 
let  us  pray  that  its  features  may  conform  to  those  immortal  principles. 
Every  day,  almost  every  hour,  brings  some  new  discovery  or  invention 
enlarging  the  bounds  of-  that  civilization,  making  the  waste  places  to 
bloom,  and  expanding  the  sphere  of  human  effort.  The  vexed  question 
will  now  be  decided  whether  the  scholar,  philosopher,  and  statesman 
are  the  leaders  in  the  progress  of  humanity,  or  whether  they  but  give 
expression  to  the  common  instincts  and  reason  of  the  race  whose  uni 
versal  mind  and  heart,  attuned  to  discover  the  true  and  right,  are  the 
first  to  proclaim  and  the  last  to  defend  them. 

AVe  will  at  least  cherish  the  hope  that  order,  which  is  of  the  essence 
of  truth  and  right,  will  be  profoundly  impressed  upon  their  seekers, 
and  find  an  abiding  dwelling  place  in  every  heart.  The  Union  will  not 
then  be  a  simple  term,  but  a  word  without  the  use  of  which  no  future 
aspirations  can  be  written.  Patriotism  will  then  be  not  an  empty  sound, 
but  a  grand  symphony  made  up  of  all  the  notes  of  our  daily  being, 
which,  as  it  rings  out  our  country's  fate,  alike  proclaims  our  own. 

We  will  guard  it  with  that  eternal  vigilance  which  was  its  price. 
Our  material  strength  is  such  that  we  can  essay  the  world  in  arms. 
Nor  have  we  the  dangers  to  apprehend  which  spring  up  between  the 
people  and  their  rulers,  for  the  people  rule.  Our  chief — it  may  be  our 
only — fear  is  those  internal  feuds  to  which  ignorance,  passion,  and  prej 
udice  prompt.  But  even  here  our  experience  gives  us  hope.  When  an 
issue  comes,  whatever  may  be  the  honest  or  sinister  purposes  of  those 
who  agitate,  it  is  by  their  own  profession  a  struggle  through  govern 
mental  forms  for  the  high  aims  and  purposes  for  which  the  government 
stands.  Sober  second-thought  in  the  end  comes,  when  time  has  tested 


24  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

the  integrity  or  the  wisdom  of  the  professed  reformers  aud  the  worth  of 
their  work. 

A  short,  time  ago  the  country  was  torn  by  discord,  and  civil  war 
strode  through  the  land  with  a  fierceness  rarely  equaled.  When  the 
fight  was  over  the  sword  was  sheathed,  the  battle-flag  was  furled,  the 
wrecks  of  dismantled  and  shattered  homes  were  gathered  up — some 
times  with  tears;  sometimes  with  ''thoughts  too  deep  for  tears";  tra 
ditions  and  associations  that  were  interwoven  through  the  govern 
mental  and  social  fabric — and,  though  they  had  caused  dissensions  on 
either  side,  were  precious — were  rolled  up  like  a  scroll  and  laid  away 
forever.  Together  again,  as  a  united  people,  under  the  old  ensign, 
flaming  aloft  and  before  us  like  a  star  in  the  serene  sky,  we  are  inarch 
ing  to  still  grander  triumphs,  bearing  on  our  Atlean  shoulders  an  en 
franchised  race  to  the  blessings  of  our  own  civilization.  In  the  midst 
of  the  fury  of  partisan  strife,  however  bitter  or  however  honest,  it  has 
always  appeared  that  as  we  have  loved  our  aims  we  have  loved  our 
country  more. 

When  the  hand  of  the  assassin  struck  our  President  down  there  was 
not  a  home  or  a  heart,  from  sea  to  sea,  from  which  earnest  prayers  did 
not  go  up  for  his  recovery.  And  when  death  came  there  was  not  one 
that  was  not  draped  in  mourning  and  bowed  in  deepest  sorrow.  He 
was  to  have  been  with  us  to-day  and  to  have  joined  in  these  august  cer 
emonies.  It  has  been  otherwise  ordained.  But  his  honored  successor 
is  here,  and  his  Cabinet,  and  the  Yorktowu  Congressional  Commission, 
and  representatives  of  every  department  of  the  United  States  Govern 
ment,  and  the  people  of  the  sister  States  and  Territories,  and  citizens 
of  foreign  nations,  to  participate  in  the  proceedings  of  this  historic  day. 
Virginia  gives  them  cordial  welcome !  Providence  decreed  that  her 
soil  should  be  the  scene  of  the  last  great  act  of  the  devolution.  Her 
citizens  rejoice  that  they  can -grant  it  to  all  the  States,  aud  join  them  in 
building  thereon  a  memorial  which  they  trust  may  be  as  lasting  as  the 
emblem  it  typifies,  and  that  both  may  be  immortal.  We  feel  that  how 
ever  dire  the  calamity  that  has  befallen  us  or  may  in  the  future  come, 
faith  is  not  dead  and  patriotism  has  not  been  wounded.  "  God  reigns 
and  the  government  at  Washington  still  lives!"  The  friends  of  free 
dom  everywhere  catch  up  the  grand  refrain  and  speed  it  round  the 
world — God  reigns  and  the  government  at  Washington  still  lives! 
Long  live  the  Government! 

The  descendants  of  the  distinguished  German  ;  who  commanded  an 
important  part  of  the  forces  here,  and  was  very  near  to  Washington, 
have  come,  in  obedience  to  our  request,  to  help  us  celebrate  their  anni 
versary  as  well  as  ours.  We  give  them  kindly  greeting.  The  sword  of 
Steuben,  drawn  in  behalf  of  freedom,  opened  the  way  for  the  advent  of 
his  vigorous  and  gifted  race.  They  have  penetrated  into  the  very  heart 
of  our  institutions;  have  made  their  homes  in  the  midst  of  the  restless 
movements  of  our  people,  and  become  as  one  in  sympathy ;  have  built 
up  the  material  wealth  of  the  country  wherever  they  have  gone,  and 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  25 

mingled  their  names  with  its  glories  in  every  department  of  literature, 
arts,  and  arms.  We  unite  to-day  to  give  kindly  greeting  to  the  descend 
ants  of  one  who  was  their  illustrious  countryman  and  our  friend. 

We  have  invited  France  to  join  us.  Her  chosen  citizens  are  here — 
the  descendants  and  representatives  of  those  without  whose  aid  neither 
this  day  nor  this  monument  had  been  possible.  Were  I  to  attempt  to 
express  American  gratitude  to  France,  and  for  what  it  is  due,  hours 
would  not  suffice  any  more  than  they  would  suffice  to  tell  of  the  splendid 
achievements  which  have  made  all  modern  history  effulgent  with  her 
fame.  It  is  not  needed  here  and  now.  Your  presence,  sirs,  and  your 
place  in  these  proceedings  speak  more  eloquently  than  any  words  of 
mine.  The  Government  of  the  United  States,  by  its  high  officials,  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  by  these  its  representatives  before  and 
around  us  in  hosts  that  cannot  be  counted,  bid  you  "All  hail  and  wel 
come." 

On  this  spot,  a  hundred  years  ago,  your  sires  and  ours  united  and  ac 
complished  a  work  which  started  a  civilization  with  untold  possibilities 
on  the  new  continent,  and  revolutionized  the  civilizations  of  the  old. 

None  could  then  estimate  its  far-reaching  sweep  OF  the  unnumbered 
blessings  it  carried  for  mankind.  We  build  this  monument  to  perpet 
uate  the  recollection  of  that  work.  We  will  guard  it  with  pious  hands 
and  hearts,  arid  transmit  it  to  the  countless  generations  who  will  follow 
ns,  to  show  how,  in  God's  ways,  a,  brave  and  noble  deed  evolves  its 
own  triumphs.  So  may  the  principles  this  monument  is  intended  to 
represent  not  fall  from  the  memory  of  man.  ( 


THE  MARSEI.LAIBE  HYMN 
By  the  chorus  of  voices  under  Professor  Seigel,  accompanied  by  the  Marine  Baud. 

Remarks  by  the  chairman  of  the  Congressional  Commission, 
Hon.  John  W.  Johnston,  of  Virginia. 


REMARKS    OF    HON.    JOffX    W.    JOHNSTON, 
CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  COMMISSION. 

Three  times  has  the  soil  upon  which  we  stand  been  made  the  camping 
ground  of  armed  men.  Twice  were  the  encampments  those  of  soldiers 
arrayed  for  battle  and  ready  for  conflict;  but  the  third  time  the  meet 
ing  is  peaceful  and  brotherly. 

One  hundred  years  ago  the  rival  camps  were,  on  the  one  side,  that  of 
England,  the  mother  country,  straining  her  strength  and  making  a  su- 


26  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

prerne  and  final  effort  to  reduce  to  submission  her  thirteen  rebellious 
colonies,  and,  on  the  other,  those  thirteen  rebellious  colonies  determined 
to  be  free  and  their  generous  allies,  the  French. 

Twenty  years  ago  these  same  colonies,  swelled  into  thirty-four  States 
had  divided  into  sectional  lines,  taken  up  arms,  and  stood  face  to  face, 
bayonet  to  bayonet.  But  to-day  behold  the  earth  covered  with  tents, 
in  which  sleep  side  by  side,  in  brotherly  friendship,  the  men  who  once 
confronted  each  other  with  deadly  intent.  This  gathering  of  troops  is 
peaceful,  not  peaceful  only  but  friendly  and  patriotic.  The  citizen  soldier 
from  all  parts  of  the  United  States  and  the  veterans  of  the  Army  and 
the  Navy  meet  here  to  rival  each  other  in  celebrating  the  event  which 
made  them  what  they  are,  a  free  and  powerful  and  prosperous  nation. 

The  struggle  between  Great  Britain  end  the  colonies  had  lasted  more 
than  six  years.  It  had  been  maintained  by  the  colonies  amidst  every 
difficulty  that  could  embarrass  and  surround  them.  Their  people  num 
bered  but  three  millions,  and  they  were  strong  along  the  Atlantic  coast. 
Their  opponents  were  more  than  twenty  millions,  and  their  territories 
encircled  the  earth.  Their  flag-  floated  on  every  sea,  and  Iheir  wealth 
and  resources  were  greater  than  those  of  any  nation  of  the  earth.  But 
it  had  become  apparent  that  the  crisis  was  at  hand.  Cornwallis  was 
hemmed  in  by  the  army  that  stretched  its  lines  around  him,  with  both 
wings  resting  on  the  river,  and  in  the  river  itself  was  anchored  the 
French  fleet.  And  so  he  had  nothing  left  but  to  lay  down  his  arms, 
and  the  American  Eevolution  was  an  accomplished  fact. 

On  this  side  the  war  had  been  kept  up  by  the  Continental  Congress. 
The  colonies  had  no  president,  no  cabinet,  no  government.  They  sim 
ply  came  voluntarily  together,  and  placed  the  whole  management  and 
conduct  of  affairs  in  the  hands  of  delegates  chosen  by  themselves.  How 
these  men  acquitted  themselves  is  the  most  glorious  page  in  all  history. 
Their  wisdom,  their  patriotism,  their  steadfastness,  their  patience,  their 
fortitude  were  unequaled  by  those  of  any  body  of  men  that  ever  as 
sembled.  Of  them  and  their  conduct  John  Marshall  speaks  in  these 
terms : 

The  firmness  manifested  by  Congress  throughout  the  gloomy  and  trying  period 
which  intervened  between  the  loss  of  Fort  Washington  and  the  battle  of  Princeton 
entitles  the  members  of  that  day  to  the  admiration  of  the  world  and  the  gratitude  of 
their  fellow-citizens.  Unawed  by  the  dangers  which  threatened  them,  and  regard 
less  of  personal  safety,  they  did  not  for  an  instant  admit  the  idea  that  the  indepen 
dence  they  had  declared  was  to  be  surrendered  and  peace  purchased  by  returning  to 
their  ancient  colonial  situation.  They  sought  to  remove  the  despondence  which  was 
seizing  and  paralyzing  the  public  mind  by  an  address  to  the  States,  in  which  every 
argument  was  suggested  which  conld  arouse  them  to  a  vigorous  action. 

The  Congress  was  in  session  when  Cornwallis  surrendered,  and  the 
intelligence  of  the  surrender  was  speedily  communicated  to  them.  Feel 
ing  that  their  long  struggle  was  crowned  with  triumph,  and  that  the 
event  which  had  just  taken  place  was  one  of  the  great  events  o/  the 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  27 

world,  which  would  live  forever  in  history,  and  influence  for  all  time  the 
destinies  of  the  people,  and  tilled  with  gratitude  for  the  aid  rendered 
them  by  France,  they  passed  this  resolution : 

That  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  will  cause  to  be  erected  at  York,  in 
Virginia,  a  marble  column  adorned  with  emblems  of  the  alliance  between  the  United 
States  and  His  Most  Christian  Majesty,  and  inscribed  with  a  succinct  narrative  of  the 
surrender  of  Earl  Cornwallis  to  his  excellency  General  Washington,  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  combined  forces  of  America  and  France;  to  his  excellency  Count  de 
Rochambeau,  commanding  the  auxiliary  troops  of  His  Most  Christian  Majesty  in 
America  ;  and  his  excellency  Count  de  Grasse,  commander-in-chief  of  the  naval  army 
of  France,  in  Chesapeake. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  column  to  be  erected  was  to  commemorate 
not  only  the  victory  of  the  colonies,  but  the  part  taken  by  France  in 
bringing  it  about.  The  duty  to  do  this  was  a  legacy  left  by  the  Conti 
nental  Congress.  And  now,  after  the  lapse  of  one  hundred  years,  the 
Congress  of  thirty-eight  States  and  fifty  millions  of  people,  the  Con 
gress  of  a  nation  stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  is  execut 
ing  that  legacy.  Three  millions  of  people  and  thirteen  colonies  accom 
plished  the  great  work,  and  fifty  millions  of  people  and  thirty-eight 
States  are  celebrating  it.  And  joining  in  this  celebration  are  repre 
sentatives  of  the  French  Nation.  Here,  at  the  invitation  of  this  gov 
ernment,  French  soldiers  again  tread  American  soil  and  French  vessels 
ride  the  waters  of  York  River. 

The  model  of  the  monument  to  be  erected  is  here  before  us.  Thir 
teen  female  figures,  representing  the  thirteen  Colonies,  seem  to  support 
upon  their  shoulders  a  column  marked  with  thirty-eight  stars,  typical  of 
the  thirty -eight  States,  and  crowned  by  a  figure  of  Liberty.  This  em 
bodies  the  idea — from  the  thirteen  Colonies  grew  the  thirty-eight  States r 
and  sprung  the  truest  and  most  thorough  and  genuine  liberty  ever  en 
joyed  by  any  people. 

On  the  four  sides  of  the  base,  and  carrying  out  the  original  design  of 
the  Continental  Congress,  are  u  emblems  of  the  alliance  between  the 
United  States  and  His  Most  Christian  Majesty,  and  a  succinct  narrative 
of  the  surrender  of  Earl  Cornwallis." 

And  now,  as  the  appropriate  opening  of  our  celebration,  the  corner 
stone  of  the  monument  will  be  laid  by  u  the  order  of  the  Ancient  Free 
and  Accepted  Masons" — of  which  Washington  l^imself  was  a  chief  mem 
ber — with  all  the  grand  and  solemn  ceremonies  befitting  so  great  an 
occasion. 


"  HAIL  COLUMBIA," 

By  the  chorus  of  voices  led  by  Professor  Seigel.     The  accompaniment  by  the  Marine 

Baud. 


28  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

LAYING  THE  CORNER  STONE  OF  THE  MONUMENT, 

!3y  the  MASONIC  GRAND  MASTER  OF  VIRGINIA,  assisted  by  the  Grand  M  astern  of  the 

Thirteen  Original  States. 

CERE  M  ON  Y. 

Grand  Master. — Brethren,  before  entering  upon  any  important  under 
taking,  we  should  always  invoke  the  blessing  of  Deity. 

Prayer  by  Eight  Worshipful  A.  FOB  BOUDE,  Grand  Chaplain,  jp.  t. 

Most  Holy  and  Glorious  Lord  God,  Author  of  all  good !  Prompted 
by  a  deep  sense  of  our  need,  and  guided  by  the  Holy  Bible,  the  Great 
Light  of  Masonry  and  of  nations,  we  come  to  Thee  for  the  blessing  we 
need  at  this  hour ;  for  in  Thee  do  we  put  our  trust. 

As  we  stand  on  this  eminence  and  look  back  upon  the  path  of  our 
national  history,  and  see  from  what  and  through  what  we  have  come,  and 
then  turn  to  see  in  our  present  surroundings  the  dignity  to  which  we 
have  arisen,  we  acknowledge  the  guidance  of  Thy  hand,  the  strength  of 
Thine  arm,  and  the  glory  of  Thy  goodness. 

Around  us  are  armed  hosts,  thundering  cannon,  and  mighty  ships  of 
war.  These  were  present  at  our  nation's  birth,  and  have  guarded  us  to 
this  hour ;  and  yet  all  these  are  vain  without  the  blessing  of  Heaven. 
"  Some  trust  in  chariots  and  some  in  horses  ;  but  we  will  remember  the 
name  of  the  Lord  our  God." 

We  praise  Thee,  O  Lord,  for  all  that  is  great  arid  good  in  our  history. 
We  praise  Thee  especially  for  the  great  and  good  men  whom  Thou  didsfc 
raise  up  among  our  fathers,  to  lead  them  through  their  long,  dark  strug 
gle  for  Independence.  Thou  wast  their  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire  j  and 
when,  in  their  weakness,  their  hearts  were  ready  to  despond,  Thou  didst 
send  them  timely  aid  across  the  great  waters  ;  and  here,  upon  this  spot, 
the  sun  of  American  Liberty  first  arose.  Clouds,  dark  and  threatening, 
have  swept  across  our  nation's  sky  since  then,  but  we  thank  Thee  that 
Thou  hast  brushed  them  away,  and  to-day  the  sky  is  clear  and  the  sun 
shines  brightly  as  ever.  Peace  is  in  all  our  borders,  and  prosperity 
attends  our  every  step. 

Here,  like  Thy  servants  Jacob  and  Samuel  of  old,  we  would  raise  a 
stone  to  mark  this  important  spot  in  our  history.  u  Hither,  by  Thy 
help,  we've  come."  And  as  long  as  this  stone  lasts  may  every  one  who 
looks  upon  it  be  stimulated  with  a  love  of  liberty  and  a  devotion  to  God 
and  country,  such  as  characterized  the  great  men  whose  deeds  we  here 
commemorate. 

Pardon,  we  pray  Thee,  our  national  sins.  They  are  many  and  great  j 
and  we  confess  them  before  Thee.  Save  us  from  the  counsel  and  rule 
of  ambitious  and  impure  men  j  and  grant  that  our  laws  may  be  made 
and  executed  in  the  fear  of  God. 

To  this  end,  we  pray  Thee,  bless  Thy  servant,  the  President  of  the 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  29 

United  States,  and  all  who  are  in  any  way  connected  with  the  govern 
ment  of  this  country.  May  they  have  Wisdom  from  above  to  direct  them 
in  all  that  they  do;  Strength  sufficient  for  their  day,  to  support  them  in 
all  their  trials ;  and  the  Beauty  of  holiness  to  adorn  their  private  lives 
and  all  their  public  performances. 

God  bless  the  French  Government  and  people,  to  whom  we  are  so 
much  indebted  for  what  we  this  day  enjoy. 

God  bless  the  English  Government  and  people,  to  whom  we  are  so 
nearly  related  by  blood,  and  from  whom  we  have  derived  so  much  of 
permanent  value  in  both  our  civil  and  religious  institutions. 

God  bless  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

O,  Thou  who  makest  Thy  "  sun  to  shine  on  the  evil  and  the  good,  and 
sendest  Thy  rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust,"  continue  to  bless  our  land 
with  plenty.  O.  Thou  who  didst  send  "peace  on  earth  and  good  will 
to  men,"  continue  to  bless  us  with  peace.  Save  us  from  pestilence, 
famine,  and  sword. 

Save  the  people  gathered  on  this  ground  from  sickness  and  accident, 
and  return  them  in  safety  and  quiet  to  their  homes. 

Bless  the  Masons  of  all  lands.  Help  them  "  to  be  good  men  and 
true" — true  to  the  principles  of  the  Order,  true  to  themselves,  their 
countries,  and  their  God. 

uOur  Father  who  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be  Thy  name;  Thy  king 
dom  come.  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.  Give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread ;  and  forgive  us  our  trespasses,  as  we  forgive  them 
that  trespass  against  us;  and  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver 
us  from  evil ;  for  thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory, 
forever.  Amen. 

Grand  Master. — Right  Worshipful  Brother  Grand  Senior  Warden,  the 
Most  Worshipful  Grand  Lodge  of  Virginia  having  been  invited  to  lay  the 
Corner-stone  of  the  Monument  hereto  be  erected  by  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  in  commemoration  of  the  surrender  on  the  19th  day  of 
October,  1781,  of  Lord  Gornwallis  to  the  combined  forces  of  the  United 
States  and  France,  it  is  my  order  that  the  Grand  Lodge  do  now  proceed 
to  the  performance  of  that  important  ceremony.  This,  my  will  and  pleas 
ure,  you  will  communicate  to  the  Grand  Junior  Warden,  and  he  to  the 
assembled  brethren,  that  all  may  have  due  notice  thereof. 

Grand  Senior  Warden. — Right  Worshipful  Bro.tb.er  Grand  Junior 
Warden,  it  is  order  the  of  the  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Master  that  the 
Corner-stone  of  the  Monument  here  to  be  erected  be  now  laid  with 
Masonic  honors.  This,  his  will  and  pleasure,  you  will  proclaim  to  all 
here  present,  that  the  occasion  may  be  observed  with  due  order  and 
solemnity. 

Grand  Junior  Warden. — Brethren,  and  all  here  present,  take  notice 
that  our  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Master  will  lay  the  Foundation-stone 
of  this  Monument  in  Masonic  form.  You  will  strictly  observe  due  order 
and  decorum  during  the  ceremony  in  which  we  are  engaged. 


30  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

HYMN— TUNK.  BALKIIMA. 

To  Hru  veil's  lii*;-li  Architect  all  praise, 

All  gratitude  be  given, 
Who  deigned  tho  human  soul  to  raise 

By  secrets  sprung-  from  Heaven. 

Now  swells  the  choir  in  solemn  tone, 

And  hovering  angles  join: 
Religion  looks  delighted  down 

When  votaries  press  the  shrine. 

lilest  be  the  place!  thither  repair 

The  true  and  pious  train ; 
Devotion  wakes  her  anthem  their, 

And  Heaven  accepts  the  strain. 

Grand  Master. — Eight  Worshipful  Brother  Grand  Treasurer,  you  will 
read  the  inscription  on  the  box. 

INSCRIPTION. 

Corner-stone  of  a  Monument  to  Commemorate  the  Surrender  of  Lord  Corn 
wall-is  and  the  forces  under  his  Command,  to  the  American  and  French 
Troops  at  Yorktown,  Virginia,  October  Wth,  1781. 

Laid  on  the  invitation  of  the  Congressional  Commission  by  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  A.  F.  &  A.  Masons  of  Virginia,  on  the  occasion  of  the  cele- 
qration  of  the  100th  anniversary  of  that  event." 

Grand  Master. — Eight  Worshipful  Brother  Grand  Secretary,  you  will 
read  the  list  of  the  contents  of  the  box. 

CONTENTS   OF   THE   BOX. 

J.  A.  Yancey  &  Co.,  Eichmond.— One  copy  of  the  Holy  Bible. 

W.  E.  Johnson,  Richmond. — Copper  coin  of  United  States,  1783. 

A.  Myers,  Norfolk. — Copper  coin,  1783,  Washington  and  Independ 
ence. 

T.  J.  Wooldridge,  Chesterfield.— One  silver  coin  of  United  States, 
1776. 

Geo.  B.  Ely,  Manchester. — Three  metal  medals. 

J.  M.  Carrington,  Staunton. — Coppercom  of  1787,  "Mind  your  Busi 
ness." 

T.  D.  Jennings,  jr.,  Lyuchburg. — Colonial  coin  of  1773. 

H.  W.  Furcrou,  Richmond.— J  franc. 

A.  W.  Hemans,  Eichmond. — One  cent,  Canada  coin,  1859. 

J.  V.  Bidgood,  Richmond. — One  French  coin,  1874. 

Geo.  A.  Hundley,  Richmond.— $  100  Virginia  Treasury  note  of  Octo 
ber,  18G2. 

Thomas  Potts,  Eichmond.— $100  Confederate  interest  bearing  note. 

A.  J.  Ford,  Eichmond.— $100  Confedrate  Treasury  note. 

Commercial  Club,  Eichmond. — Copy  of  Programme  issued  by  it  of 
the  Celebration  at  Yorktowu  and  continued  in  Eichmond. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  31 


F.  H.  Wiliiains.  Richmond. — Photograph  of  Confederate  Flags  com 
bined. 

F.  Marsti,  Norfolk. — Yorktown  Centennial  Medal. 

Robert  \Velsh,  Richmond. — Diagram  of  Corner-stone  as  furnished 
him  for  execution. 

Richmond  Post-Office. — Memorial  Schedule  of  Arrival  and  Departure 
1  Mails,  issued  26th  September,  1881. 

R.  B.  Chamn  &  Co.,  Richmond. — Copy  of  Virginia  Real  Estate  Journal 
of  October,  1881. 

Howard  R.  Bayne,  Richmond. — Copy  of  Travels  of  Ego  and  Alter, 
published  in  1879. 

West,  Johnston  &  Co.,  Richmond. — Copy  of  Methods  of  Language 
Teaching,  and  copy  of  Yorktown  Centennial  volume. 

H.  P.  Johnston,  New  York. — Copy  of  "The  Yorktown  Campaign  and 
the  surrender  of  Coruwallis,  1781." 

J.  E.  Goode,  Richmond. — Copy  of  the  Warrock-Richardson  Almanac 
for  1881. 

Alfred  Shield,  Richmond. — Copy  of  Charter  of  Yorktown  Centennial 
Association. 

E.  S.  Jeninson,  Charleston. — By-Laws  of  South  Carolina  Cominandery 
No.  1,  chartered  in  18U4. 

Joppa  Lodge  No.  40,  Richmond. — Copy  of  By-Laws. 

J.  H.  Estill,  Savannah,  Georgia. — Copy  of  Sketch  of  Solomon  Lodge 
No.  1 ;  also  Copy  of  By-Laws. 

Winterpock  Lodge  No.  94,  Chesterfield. — Copy  of  By-Laws. 

Amity  Lodge  No.  76,  Richmond. — Copy  of  Postal  Card  calling  meet 
ing  of  Lodge  to  consider  the  Yorktowii  Centennial. 

Fredericksburgh  Lodge  No.  4,  Fredericksburgh. — A  Leaf  from  the 
Bible  on  which  George  Washington  was  made  a  Mason  ;  also  Extracts 
from  Records  of  the  Lodge  showing  his  connection  with  it •  ;  also  a  Roll 
of  Members,  1881. 

C.  L.  Seigle,  Richmond. — List  of  names  of  Yorktown  Centennial  Cho 
rus  and  Membership  Ticket;  also  a  copy  of  all  the  Music  to  be  sung  by 
the  Centennial  Chorus. 

By  Amity  Lodge  No.  76,  Richmond. — List  of  Officers  and  Members 
October,  1881. 

Mrs.  Mary  W.  Baldwin,  Chesterfield  County. — Masonic  Apron  worn 
by  her  late  husband,  Rev.  Archibald  W.  Baldwin,  deceased. 

H.  S.  Bogart,  Savannah,  Georgia. — Copy  in  MS.  of  his  work  entitled 
"  Washington  and  Lee,  with  parallel  notes." 

Grand  Cominandery  of  Knights  Templar  of  Virginia. — Copy  of  Pro 
ceedings  for  1880 :  also  copy  of  Form  of  Diploma  on  parchment. 

Grand  Chapter  of  Virginia.— Copy  of  Dove's  R.  A.  C.  Text-Book, 
edition  1853  ;  copy  of  Proceedings  for  1880  ;  copy  of  Form  of  Diploma 
on  parchment;  copy  of  form  of  Charter  on  parchment;  copy  of  form 
of  Commission  to  Grand  Representatives ;  copies  of  Official  Commis 
sions  and  Dispensations. 


32  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Grand  Lodge  of  Virginia. — Copy  of  first  aod  fourth  Editions  of  Dove's 
Text-Books ;  copy  of  Proceedings  of  laying  the  Corner-stone  by  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  the  Washington  Monument  22d  February,  1850  ;  copy 
of  unveiling  the  same  22d  February,  1858  ;  copy  of  Proceedings  for  1878, 
containing  ceremony  of  unveiling  the  Monument  erected  by  the  Masons 
of  Virginia  to  memory  of  Dr.  John  Dove,  who  had  served  as  Grand 
Secretary  from  1830  to  1876 ;  copy  of  Proceedings  for  1880 ;  copy  of 
Report  of  Proceedings  from  1733  to  1822,  setting  forth  the  progress  of 
the  Fraternity  during  the  intervening  years — also  giving  history  of  the 
Organization  of  the  Grand  Lodge  in  1778  up  to  1822,  Steel-plate  En 
gravings  of  the  Grand  Masters  who  had  presided  over  the  Grand  Lodge 
from  1778  to  1822,  also  of  the  late  Grand  Secretary;  an  Electrotype 
copy  of  the  Seal  of  the  Grand  Lodge ;  copy  of  form  of  Charter  issued 
to  Subordinate  Lodges  on  parchment,  signed  by  the  present  Grand 
Master;  copy  of  Form  of  Diploma  on  parchment;  copy  of  Commission 
issued  to  Grand  Representatives  ;  copies  of  Forms  of  Dispensation  and 
other  Official  Documents ;  copy  of  Special  Committee  on  Masonic  Ju 
risprudence,  adopted  in  1856 ;  copy  of  Special  Committee  on  Free  Ma 
sonry  and  the  War,  adopted  in  1864 ;  copy  of  the  Programme  of  the 
Ceremony  of  laying  the  Corner-stone  of  this  Monument ;  copy  of  the 
Code  of  Virginia,  edition  of  1873 ;  copy  of  Webster's  Dictionary  (un 
abridged)  ;  a  full  set  of  Lodge  Jewels  df  Silver. 

Grand  Master. — Right  Worshipful  Brothers  Grand  Treasurer  and 
Grand  Secretary,  you  will  superintend  and  see  that  the  box  is  depos 
ited  in  the  place  prepared  for  its  reception. 

HYMN — TUNE,  AMERICA. 

Father  of  love  und  might, 
Send  forth  Thy  holy  light 

On  us  to  shine. 
Be  thou  our  Sovereign  Lord, 
And  may  Thy  Holy  Word 
He  to  us  a  shield  and  .sword, 

Master  Divine. 

Hound  in  one  brotherhood, 
Owning  one  common  blood, 

Children  of  Thine — 
Fill  us  with  kindliness, 
Prompt  to  relieve  distress, 
Wearing  thy  true  impress, 

Master  Divine. 

With  joyful  hands  to-day 
This  Corner-stone  we  lay, 

With  t'orn,  oil,  wine: 
Hut  do  Thou  build  up  one, 
Wrought  in  the  living  stone 
Of  our  true  hearts  alone, 

Master  Divine. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  33 

Grand  Master. — My  Most  Worshipful  Brethren,  the  Grand  Masters 
of  the  Grand  Lodges  of  New  York,  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania,  you 
will  descend  with  me  to  the  foundation. 

The  Grand  Master  with  the  Troicel  stood  at  the  East,  with  the  Grand 
M  aster  of  New  York  with  the  Square  on  his  right,  the  Grand  Master  of 
Maryland  with  the  Level  at  the  West,  and  the  Grand  Master  of  Penn 
sylvania,  with  the  Plumb  at  the  South  side  of  the  stone.  The  Grand 
Master  spread  the  cement,  after  which  he  directed  the  Grand  Marshal 
to  order  the  Craftsmen  to  lower  the  cap-stone.  Executed  under  the 
direction  of  Brother  E.  H.  Kurlin,  United  States  Army,  and  assisted 
by  Eight  Worshipful  John  0.  Armistead,  and  Brothers  William  B. 
Isaacs,  Jr.,  and  J.  E.  Alexander.  This  was  done  with  three  motions  : 
First.  Lowering  the  stone  a  few  inches,  and  stopping  while  the  Grand 
Honors  were  given.  Second.  Lowering  again  a  few  inches  and  re 
peating  the  Grand  Honors.  Third.  Lowering  to  its  place,  and  repeat 
ing  the  Grand  Honors.  The  Square,  Level,  and  Plumb  were  then  ap 
plied  to  the  stone,  by  their  respective  bearers,  and  all  returned  to  their 
stations. 

Grand  Master. — My  Most  Worshipful  Brother,  the  Grand  Master  of 
New  York,  what  jewel  do  you  bear? 

Grand  Master  of  New  York. — The  Square. 

Grand  Master. — Have  you  applied  it  to  such  parts  of  the  stone  as 
should  be  square  ? 

Grand  Master  of  New  York. — I  have,  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Master, 
and  find  the  Craftsmen  have  faithfully  performed  their  duty. 

Grand  Master. — My  Most  Worshipful  Brother,  the  Grand  Master  of 
Maryland,  what  jewel  do  you  bear  ? 

Grand  Master  of  Maryland. — The  Level. 

Grand  Master. — Have  you  applied  it  to  such  parts  of  the  stone  as 
should  be  level  1 

Grand  Master  of  Maryland. — I  have,  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Master, 
and  find  the  Craftsmen  have  faithfully  performed  their  duty. 

Grand  Master. — My  Most  Worshipful  Brother,  the  Grand  Master  of 
Pennsylvania,  what  jewel  do  you  bear  ? 

Grand  Master  of  Pennsylvania. — The  Plumb. 

Grand  Master. — Have  you  applied  it  to  such  parts  of  the  stone  as 
should  be  plumb  ? 

Grand  Master  of  Pennsylvania. — I  have,  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Mas 
ter,  and  find  the  Craftsmen  have  faithfully  performed  their  duty. 

Grand  Master. — Eight  Worshipful  Brother  Deputy  Grand  Master,  you 
will,  with  the  assistance  of  our  Most  Worshipful  Brethren,  the  Grand 
Masters  of  the  Grand  Lodges  of  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  Con 
necticut,  New  Hampshire,  Ehode  Island,  and  Delaware,  examine  the 
foundation  stone,  and  see  if  it  is  well  and  duly  laid,  and  report  to  me. 
S.  Eep.  1003 3 


34  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Deputy  Grand  Master. — Most  Worshipful  Grand  Master,  we  have  ex 
amined  the  foundation  stone,  and  find  it  true  and  trusty,  and  duly  laid. 
May  this  patriotic  undertaking  be  prosecuted  by  the  Craftsmen  to  com 
pletion  according  to  the  grand  plan,  and  in  Peace,  Love,  and  Harmony. 

HYMN—  TUNE,  LYONS. 

O,  praise  yo  the  Lord,  prepare  your  glad  voie»> 

His  Praise  in  the  great  Assembly  to  sing; 
In  their  great  Creator  let  all  men  rejoice, 

And  heirs  of  salvation  be  glad  in  their  King. 

Let  them  His  great  name  devoutly  adore, 

In  loud  swelling  strains  His  praises  express, 
Who  graciously  opens  His  bountiful  store, 

Their  \vants  to  relieve  and  His  children  to  bless. 

With  glory  adorned  His  people;,  shall  sing, 

To  God,  who  defense  and  plenty  supplies, 
Their  loud  acclamations  to  Him,  their  great  King. 

Through  earth  shall  be  sounded  and  reach  to  the  skies. 

Ye  angels  above,  His  glories  who've  sung, 

In  loftiest  notes  now  publish  His  praise. 
We  mortals,  delighted,  Avould  borrow  your  tongue, 

Would  join  in  your  numbers  and  chant  to  your  lays. 

Grand  Master. — My  Most  Worshipful  Brother,  the  Grand  Master  of 
Massachusetts,  you  will  descend  and  pour  upon  the  Stone  the  Corn  of 
nourishment. 

Poured  the  Corn  on  the  Stone,  pronouncing  the  following  in  vocation: 

"May  the  Supreme  Architect  of  the  Universe  preserve  the  health  and 

strength  of  the  workmen  engaged  in  the  erection  of  this  Monument, 

protect  them  from  all  accidents,  and  bless  and  prosper  the  work  of 

their  hands." 

HYMN— TUNE,  HEBRON. 

When  once  of  old  in  Israel 

Our  early  Brethren  wrought  with  toil, 
I  Jehovah's  blessings  on  them  fell 

In  showers  of  CORN  and  WINE  and  OIL. 

Grand  Master. — My  most  Worshipful  Brother,  the  Grand  Master  of 

North  Carolina,  you  will  descend  and  pour  upon  the  Stone  the  Wine  of 

refreshment. 

Poured  the  wine,  pronouncing  the  following  invocation : 

"May  abundant  refreshment  be  showered  down  upon  the  people  of 

this  our  common  country,  and  may  the  blessings  of  the  Give*r  of  all 

good  things  attend  their  undertakings.-' 

SECOND    STANZA. 

When  there  a  shrine  to  Him  alone 

They  built,  with  worship  sin  to  foil, 
On  threshold  and  on  corner-stone 

They  poured  out  CORN  and  WINE  and  On . 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  35 

Grand  Master. — My  Most  Worshipful  Brother,  the  Grand  Master  of 

Connecticut,  you  will  descend  and  pour  upon  the  Stone  the  Oil  of  joy 

and  gladness. 

Poured  the  oil,  pronouncing  the  following  invocation: 

"May  the  Supreme  Being  preserve  to  the  people  of  this  country 

Peace  and  Harmony,  and  vouchsafe  to  them  joy  and  gladness  and  every 

blessing." 

THIKD   STAN/ A. 

And  we  have  come  fraternal  bauds, 

With  joy  and  pride  and  prosperous  spoil, 
To  honor  him  by  votive  hands, 

With  streams  of  CORN  and  WINE  and  OIL! 

Grand  Master. — Having  full  confidence  in  the  skill  in  the  royal  art  of 
all  who  have  assisted  us  in  the  honored  duty  assigned  to  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Ancient,  Free,  and  Accepted  Masons  of  the  State  of  Virginia, 
it  remains  with  me  to  finish  the  work. 

He  descended,  with  the  Grand  Senior  Deacon  on  his  right,  and  the 
Grand  Junior  Deacon  on  his  left,  and  gave  three  distinct  knocks  on  the 
atone.  They  then  returned  to  their  stations. 

Grand  Master. — Know  all  ye  who  hear  me,  We  are  assembled  in  the 
broad  light  of  day,  and  proclaim  ourselves  Free  and  Accepted  Masons, 
true  to  the  laws  of  our  country,  professing  to  fear  God  and  to  confer 
benefits  on  mankind.  We  have  secrets  j  they  are  inviolate  and  inviola 
ble;  they  are  lawful  and  honest.  The  tenets  of  our  profession  are 
Brotherly  Love,  Relief,  and  Truth.  We  inculcate  the  four  Cardinal 
Virtues — Temperance,  Fortitude,  Prudence,  and  Justice.  If  we  had 
not  practised  those  tenets  and  inculcated  those  virtues,  our  Institution 
would  not  have  descended  to  us  through  generation  after  generation, 
nor  would  it  have  numbered  among  its  members  so  many  pure  and 
illustrious  personages  who  were  and  are  always  ready  to  participate  in 
its  work,  and  to  promote  its  welfare.  As  Grand  Master  of  Masons  in 
the  State  of  Virginia,  I  pronounce  the  Corner-stone  of  this  Monument 
true,  trusty,  and  well  laid.  May  the  Corn  of  nourishment,  the  Wine  of 
refreshment,  and  the  Oil  of  joy  and  gladness,  and  all  the  other  necessi 
ties  of  life  abound  among  all  the  people.  May  the  blessings  of  God 
rest  upon  this  work.  May  the  Monument  here  to  be  erected  be  pre 
served  throughout  all  ages  as  a  reminder  to  each  succeeding  generation 
of  the  glorious  event  which  it  is  intended  to  commemorate. 

Grand  Master. — My  Most  Worshipful  Brother,  our  Grand  Marshal, 
you  will,  with  the  aid  of  the  Grand  Senior  and  Junior  Deacons,  present 
me  with  the  working  tools. 

Grand  Master. — Brother  Craighill,  as  the  builder  of  this  Monument, 
after  fhe  designs  as  laid  down  by  the  distinguished  architects — B.  M. 
Hunt,  Henry  Van  Brunt,  and  J.  Q.  A.  Ward — I  confide  to  your  hand* 
the  implements  of  Operative  Masonry  with  the  fullest  confidence  in 
your  skill  and  ability  to  erect  such  a  Monument  as  will  perpetuate  and 


36  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

add  new  luster  to  the  established  glory,  liberality,  and  patriotism  of  the 
people  of  these  United  States. 

Grand  Master. — Most  Worshipful  Brother,  our  Grand  Marshal,  you 
will  take  with  you  the  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Master  of  Pennsylvania, 
as  a  member  and  as  the  representative  of  the  Congressional  Commis 
sion  having  the  Monument  in  charge,  and  inform  his  Excellency  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  that  the  Corner-stone  of  the  Monument, 
about  to  be  erected  in  commemoration  of  the  surrender  of  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  to  our  illustrious  and  beloved  Brother,  General  George  Washing 
ton,  has  now  been  laid  with  Masonic  Honors,  and  request  his  Excellency 
to  descend  and  examine  our  work,  and  if  approved,  to  receive  it  from  our 
hands. 

His  Excellency  Chester  A.  Arthur,  President  of  the  United  States, 
escorted  by  the  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Master,  the  Most  W^orshipful 
Grand  Master  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Mar. 
shal,  descended  to  the  Foundation-stone.  He  pronounced  it  well  laid, 
and  received  the  work  from  our  hands. 


The  Most  Worshipful  Grand  Master  then  introduced  Most  Worshipful 
Beverley  R.  Wellford,  Jr.,  Past  Grand  Master,  who  delivered  the  fol 
lowing 

OR  ATION. 

When  the  ancient  Patriarch  awoke  from  the  slumber  in  which  his 
ejes  had  beheld  the  ladder  that  spanned  the  chasm  between  earth  and 
heaven,  and  his  ears  had  heard  the  promise  of  his  father's  God,  that  the 
land  whereon  he  lay  should  be  the  heritage  of  his  children — that  his 
seed  should  be  as  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  should  spread  abroad  to  the 
West  and  to  the  East,  and  to  the  North  and  to  the  South,  and  that  in 
him  and  his  seed  should  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed — the 
first  impulse  of  his  heart  was  to  erect  then  and  there  a  Memorial-stone 
to  consecrate  the  spot  arid  to  commemorate  the  event. 

Centuries  afterwards,  in  that  romantic  history,  of  which  Bethel  was 
one  of  the  initial  points,  we  read  of  the  planting  of  another  Memorial- 
stone.  Year  by  year,  in  all  these  centuries,  the  promise  had  been  in 
process  of  fulfillment,  until  now  the  seed  of  Jacob  had  multiplied  into 
the  hosts  of  Israel ;  and  the  Egyptian  captivity  long  since  terminated — 
the  exodus  safely  accomplished  through  the  perils  of  the  Bed  Sea,  and 
the  weary  wanderings  of  the  Wilderness,  the  walls  of  Jericho  over 
thrown,  and  the  Hebrews  in  full  possession  of  the  promised  land,  a  new 
era  in  their  history  was  about  to  dawn.  The  offendings  of  the  people 
had  provoked  a  temporary  withdrawal  of  the  smiles  of  Providence,  and 
the  armies  of  Israel  had  been  driven  in  dismay  before  the  Philistines. 
The  stricken  people  appealed  to  the  Prophet  to  intercede  in  their  behalf, 
and  once  again  the  arm  of  the  Almighty  was  bared  for  their  protection. 
Upon  the  field  of  victory,  between  Mizpeh  and  Sheu,  the  Prophet  took 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

.a  stone  and  set  it,  and  called  the  name  of  it  Ebenezer, 
hath  the  Lord  helped  us." 

We  are  here,  my  Brethren  and  my  countrymen,  to 
pie  of  Jacob  and  of  Samuel.  The  men  of  the  Revolution  propc 
perform  in  their  own  day  the  pious  office  now  devolved  upon  us.  Had 
they  been  permitted  to  do  so,  they  would  have  come  simply  with  the  ex 
pectant  Faith  of  Jacob,  in  a  future  yet  to  be  accomplished.  We  come 
with  the  grateful  experiences  of  Samuel  of  a  realized  past. 

Representing  two  generations,  the  one  removed  from  the  other  by  a 
long  interval  of  years,  we  are  here,  with  filial  reverence,  to  fulfill  their 
pledge  by  planting  the  Bethel  of  the  Fathers,  while  for  ourselves  we 
come,  with  shouting  and  praise,  to  raise  the  Ebenezer  of  the  Sons. 

)n  the  29th  October,  1781,  ten  days  after  the  surrender  of  Lord  Corn- 
wallis,  the  Continental  Congress  resolved  that  this  Monument  should  be 
here  erected.  Reckoned  only  in  years,  and  compared  with  the  life  of 
many  nations  of  the  ancient  and  of  the  modern  world,  the  period  which 
has  intervened  may  appear  to  be  very  brief.  But  neither  in  individual 
nor  in  social  life  are  we  restricted  to  such  a  narrow  measure  of  compu 
tation. 

Who  would  think  of  measuring,  by  the  simple  third  of  a  century,  the 
great  era  which  witnessed  the  birth  in  the  manger  at  Bethlehem  and  the 
death  upon  the  Cross  on  Calvary? 

More  than  sixteen  centuries  of  this  world's  history  had  been  accom 
plished  when  the  Ark  rested  upon  Mount  Ararat  f  but  measured  by  the 
duration  of  human  life,  the  survivors  of  the  Deluge  occupied  towards 
the  events  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  about  the  same  relative  position  which 
we  do  to  the  events  of  our  Revolutionary  period. 

Noah  was  the  sou  of  Laniech,  and  the  grandson  of  Methusaleh.  The 
one  perished  five  years  before,  and  the  other  in  the  very  year  of  the 
Flood.  In  their  earlier  lives  the  one  was  contemporary  with  Adam  for 
fifty-six  years,  and  the  other  for  two  hundred  and  forty -three  years,  and 
in  their  later  lives  both  were  contemporary  with  Noah  for  six  hundred 
years,  and  for  nearly  one  hundred  years  with  Sheni,  Ham,  and  Japheth. 
Thus  two  single  lives  of  mortal  men  bridged  the  chasm  of  time  from  the 
Creation  to  the  Deluge,  and  the  grandchildren  of  Noah  born  after  the 
Flood,  might  have  receivedfrom  their  parents  the  history  of  Father  Adam 
and  Mother  Eve,  as  imparted  to  them  by  those  who  had  received  them 
directly  from  the  first  Parents  of  Mankind. 

All  of  the  actors  in  our  Revolutionary  struggle  have  long  since  pefished 
from  the  earth.  Our  possibilities  of  oral  communication  with  that  past 
are  limited  to  the  links  between.  Few,  very  few,  even  of  these  remain 
who  can  repeat  the  story  of  the  hundred  years  ago  as  it  was  told  to  them 
by  any  actor  in  those  scenes.  Those,  however,  who  survive,  have  a  past 
of  memory  and  of  tradition,  which,  unlike  the  more  extensive  past  of 
the  survivors  of  the  Ark,  they  and  their  children  desire  and  purpose  to 
preserve  and  perpetuate. 


38  YORKTOWN    CELEBKATION. 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  meet  the  requirements  of  tli is  occasion,  and 
to  place  ourselves  in  imagination  upon  the  standpoint  which  the  Conti 
nental  Congress  occupied  in  looking  towards  the  future,  when  they 
ordered  the  laying  of  this  Corner-stone.  What  was  then  matter  of  specu 
lation,  has  been  so  long  matter  of  history  ;  the  hopes  that  cheered,  have 
so  long  since  ripened  into  fruition,  and  the  fears  that  discouraged  have 
so  long  since  been  dissipated,  that  it  requires  some  violent  mental  effort 
to  imagine  ourselves  in  their  condition  of  anxiety  about  a  future,  which 
has  been  during  all  of  our  lives  a  happily  and  gloriously  realized  past. 

The  surrender  of  Lord  Corn  wallis  was  naturally  regarded,  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  as  foreshadowing  an  early  and  successful  termination  of  our 
Kevoltitionary  struggle.  But  the  end  was  not  yet.  The  night  was  far 
spent  and  the  day-dawn  drew  nigh,  but  the  gates  of  the  morning  were 
not  even  yet  uplifted. 

Upon  the  day  after  the  surrender,  General  Washington  issued  the 
following  order : 

"Divine  service  will  be  performed  to-morrow  in  the  several  brigades 
and  divisions.  The  Commander-in-Chief  earnestly  recommends  that  the 
troops  not  on  duty  should  universally  attend  with  that  seriousness  of 
deportment  and  gratitude  of  heart  which  the  recognition  of  such  reiter 
ated  and  astonishing  interpositions  of  Providence  demands  of  us." — 8 
Sparks,  189. 

In  the  spirit  of  this  order,  the  intelligence  was  received  among  all  the 
people,  as  it  sped  from  man  to  man,  and  house  to  house,  with  all  the 
rapidity  consistent  with  the  then  practicable  means  of  communication. 
In  the  same  spirit  it  was  received  by  the  Continental  Congress,  and  in- 
the  same  spirit  the  idea  was  conceived  of  erecting  this  monument. 

It  was  no  spirit  of  exulting  conn  deuce  in  an  accomplished  result,  but 
a  grateful  recognition  of  Providential  interposition  in  the  past  as  a 
promise  for  the  future. 

More  than  a  year  had  yet  to  intervene  before  peace  could  be  pro 
claimed.  The  war  against  their  emigrant  children  had,  however,  long 
since  ceased  to  be,  if  it  ever  hnd  been,  popular  with  the  British  people. 
The  principles  upon  which  the  Colonies  began  the  contest  were  so  natural 
an  outgrowth  of  the  principles  upon  which  the  House  of  Hanover  had 
accepted  the  throne,  as  matter  of  grace, from  the  British  people,  through 
their  representatives  in  Parliament  assembled,  that  the  overthrow  of  the 
Colonu-s  would  have  rolled  back  the  wheels  of  Constitutional  Liberty  to 
the  days  of  tin*  Stuuns.  Thi«  only  statesmen  of  Great  Kriuiin  \\hose 
utterances  live  in  history  gave  voice  all  the  while  to  the  remonstrances- 
of  a  great  constituency,  composed  of  the  best  material  of  the  British 
people,  against  the  unnatural  effort  to  subjugate  America.  Chatham, 
Cainden,  Burke,  Barre — had  protested  from  the  outset  with  vehement 
force,  that  the  cause  of  British  Liberty  was  wrapt  up  in  the  successful 
resistance  of  their  transatlantic  brethren.  If,  under  any  fair  system 
of  representation,  the  voice  of  the  great  rural  constituencies  could  have 


YORKTOVVX    CELEBRATION.  39 

been  spoken  in  the  House  of  Commons,  it  might  have  echoed  a  response 
to  the  protests,  which  came  up  frqm  the  centers  of  commerce  and  trade 
throughout  the  Kingdom,  so  loudly  that  Lexington,  and  Saratoga,  and 
York  town  would  have  been  as  unknown  to  history  as  Goldsmith's  lovely 
village  of  the  plain. 

But  the  weak  and  obstinate  monarch,  the  shadows  of  whose  later  life 
forbid  harsh  censure  of  the  folly  which  dissevered  an  empire,  was  stub 
bornly  deaf,  and  commanded  deafness  in  all  his  advisers,  to  the  protests 
:ind  remonstrances  of  the  wisest  and  most  intelligently  loyal  of  his  sub 
jects  at  home  and  abroad.  The  surrender  of  his  army  by  Lord  Corn- 
wallis,  however,  and  the  pronounced  refusal  of  Parliament  to  supply 
men  and  money  to  protract  the  hopeless  struggle,  confirmed  too  late  the 
warning  of  Chatham,  that  he  could  never  conquer  America.  Still  he 
hesitated — but  all  the  influence  of  the  throne  could  not  retain  in  power 
any  ministry  which  refused  to  hearken  to  the  voice  of  the  great  British 
people,  commanding  that  the  unnatural  war  should  cease. 

The  Treaty  was  nominally  the  act  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  assent 
ing  of  his  sovereign  grace  and  pleasure,  to  treat  with  his  former  colo 
nies  as  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  States. 

It  was  really  the  act  of  the  British  people,  speaking  through  a  titular 
sovereign,  whose  reluctant  will  they  constrained  to  execute  it. 

It  was  their  recognition  of  the  fact  that  their  emigrant  children  had 
attained  their  majority;  and  their  concession  of  the  right  of  those  chil 
dren  to  assume  all  the  responsibilities  of  that  majority. 

To  the  American  people  the  treaty  of  peace  was  the  successful  con 
summation  of  their  revolutionary  struggle.  The  night  was  spent,  and 
the  morning  had  come  at  last — but  with  it  came  fearful  anxieties  about 
the  developments  of  the  day. 

The  struggle  in  its  outset  had  looked  only  to  the  preservation  of  in 
herited  British  liberty,  under  all  the  forms  of  a  Constitutional  Mon 
archy.  But'the  natural  succession  of  events,  consequent  upon  the  efforts 
of  the  British  ministry  to  subjugate  the  colonies,  had  imposed  upon 
them  the  grand  experiment  of  a  purely  Republican  Government.  The 
responsibility  of  making  that  experiment  a  success  had  been  bravely 
assumed.  But  the  normal  state  of  society  is  that  of  peace,  and  the  cru 
cial  test  of  popular  government  was  to  begin  when  the  war  closed. 
Pending  hostilities,  the  civil  power  was,  of  necessity  in  many  matters, 
subordinate  to  that  of  the  military  forces,  and  in  its  own  recognized  do 
main  could  command  the  aid  of  those  forces  to  enforce  social  order.  It 
was  when  those  forces  had  to  be  disbanded — when  the  sword  had  to  be 
converted  into  the  plow-share,  and  the  soldier  to  merge  into  the  citizen 
— that  the  hour  of  real  trial  was  to  come.  Then,  and  not  until  then, 
in  the  orderly  and  peaceful  administration  of  the  Government,  and  in 
the  healthful  progress  of  the  State,  could  the  practicability  be  demon 
strated  of  the  enjoyment  of  life,  liberty,  and  property,  under  a  Gov 
ernment  of  the  People,  for  the  People,  and  by  the  People. 


40  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Political  philosophers  abroad,  of  the  most  liberal  feelings — especially 
those  of  the  mother  country,  whose  sympathies  had  been  with  us  all  the 
while,  and  who  had  echoed  the  words  of  Chatham,  "  If  I  were  an  Ameri 
can,  as  I  am  an  Englishman,  while  a  foreign  troop  continues  to  be 
landed  in  my  country,  I  never  would  lay  down  my  arms — never — never 
never" — stood  aghast  at  the  boldness  of  the  experiment. 

When,  therefore,  the  unreflecting  multitude,  in  the  exultation  of  relief 
from  the  burdens  of  war  by  the  confessed  defeat  of  the  foreign  foe  and 
the  domestic  traitor,  were  shouting  their  loud  hozaunas  over  an  accom 
plished  success,  the  wise  and  thoughtful  of  the  Fathers  were  oppressed 
with  the  heaviest  anxieties  and  fears. 

Oh,  my  countrymen  !  if  we  could  only  divest  ourselves  of  our  present 
surroundings,  and  shut  our  eyes  to  the  light  which  has,  during  all  our 
days,  made  straight  to  us  the  pathway  those  Fathers  had  to  tread  in 
darkness,  we  might  begin  to  understand  the  feelings  with  which  they 
would  have  gathered  here  to  plant  their  Bethel,  and  how  much  of  Faith, 
how  much  of  Hope,  how  much  of  Charity,  the  first  onward  step  in  the 
untraveled  path  before  them  involved. 

The  War  of  the  Revolution  opened  at  Lexington  in  April,  1775 — Lord 
Cornwallis  surrendered  here  in  October,  1781. 

Peace  was  proclaimed  in  March,  1783,  but  the  British  troops  did  not 
evacuate  the  city  of  New  York  until  the  25th  November.  Upon  the  4th 
December,  George  Washington  took  a  final  leave  of  his  officers,  and  on 
December  23, 1783,  surrendered  his  commission  as  Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  Army  to  the  Continental  Congress  at  Annapolis.  The  strain  of 
Peace  upon  the  American  experiment  then  began. 

The  Constitution  which  created  this  great  American  Union  of  States 
assembled  here  to  day  through  its  official  representatives  and  its  loyal 
people,  was  then  in  the  womb  of  the  future. 

The  treaty  of  peace  had  recognized  each  of  these  whilom  British  colo 
nies  as  a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  State.  The  pressure  of  a 
common  peril  had  united  them  for  the  purposes  of  common  defense,  and 
during  the  war  they  had  adopted  certain  Articles  of  Confederation,  un 
der  which  a  Congress  of  Representatives  from  all  the  States  was  vested 
with  limited  powers  to  be  exercised  in  the  common  interest.  These  ar 
ticles  did  profess  the  object  of  establishing  a  perpetual  Union — but 
failed  to  provide  any  machinery  of  Government  by  which  the  bonds  of 
that  Union  could  be  made  stronger  than  ropes  of  sand. 

The  Congress  was  vested  with  authority  to  contract  debts  upon  the 
credit  of  all  the  States,  but  with  no  power  to  raise  money  to  pay  them. 
It  had  authority  to  make  war  and  to  make  peace,  but  no  power  to  raise 
armies,  to  regulate  trade  and  commerce,  or  to  compel  the  observance  of 
its  plighted  faith.  The  Government  had  no  Executive  head  other  than 
thQ  President  of  Congress  during  its  session,  or  a  committee  of  its  mem 
bers  during  recess.  It  had  no  officers  to  collect  its  revenues — no  Judi 
ciary  to  expound  or  enforce  its  laws.  For  all  practical  purposes  its 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  41 

power  was  little  more  than  the  moral  power  of  recommendation  or  re 
monstrance,  dependent  for  force  and  effect  entirely  upon  the  concur 
rent  action  of  thirteen  States — each  acting  for  itself  and  by  itself  with 
all  the  deliberation  of  Constitutional  legislation. 

The  responsibility  of  solving  the  problem  of  self-government  was  de 
volved  upon  each  of  the  thirteen  States,  and  within  its  own  domain  could 
not  be  divided  with  any  or  all  of  the  sisters.  But  each  State  stood  before 
the  world  sponsor  for  all  the  others,  and  failure  in  one  was  disaster  to  all. 
The  common  peril  which  had  demanded  union  in  war,  clamored  yet  more 
loudly  for  union  in  peace,  but  the  utter  inadequacy  of  the  union  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  when  the  people  of  these  States  stood  in  the 
breach  of  the  greatest  responsibility  ever  imposed  upon  a  community  of 
men,  was  too  painfully  apparent. 

The  idea  of  the  Union  that  was  needed  under  which  the  wisdom  and 
practicability  of  self  government  was  to  be  vindicated  before  all  man 
kind — liberty,  prosperity,  and  happiness  secured  at  home,  honor  and  re 
spect  commanded  abroad — had  been  conceived,  but  how  it  was  to  be  real 
ized  was  the  mighty  problem  of  the  immediate  future. 

It  only  began  to  be  realized  when  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
was  adopted,  and  the  government  thereunder  inaugurated.  The  interval 
of  time  between  the  close  of  the  war  and  the  inauguration  of  the  first 
President  of  the  United  States  was  the  really  critical  period  of  our  his 
tory. 

It  is  impossible  for  us  to  appreciate  the  fearful  anxieties,  the  depress 
ing  discouragements,  and  the  almost  despairing  efforts  of  the  statesmen 
of  that  period.  The  Articles  of  Confederation  forbade  any  amendments 
without  the  concurrence  of  all  the  States.  To  secure  that  unanimity 
appeared  to  be  utterly  impossible.  One  of  the  States  refused  even  to 
meet  her  sister  States  in  conference  for  the  purpose  of  consultation  and 
discussion.  The  fruits  of  hard-won  victory  seemed  about  to  be  thrown 
away  by  irreconcilable  antagonisms  of  interest,  real  or  imaginary,  and 
unconquerable  jealousies  and  apprehensions.  Still,  in  the  council  of 
the  States,  sages  and  patriots  toiled  on  prayerfully  and  hopefully.  The 
same  serene  intelligence  which  had  guided  the  destinies  of  America  in 
the  dark  hours  of  the  Revolution,  ever  making  disaster  luminous  with 
hope,  presided  over  the  deliberations  of  the  Constitutional  Convention. 
His  paternal  counsels,  all  the  while  rebuking  faction  and  discord,  plead 
for  that  charity  of  opinion  and  action  which  could  alone  be  the  mother 
of  the  needed  compromises  and  concessions.  Finally  a  Constitution 
was  formed,  which  was  adopted  in  Convention  by  the  votes  of  a  ma 
jority  of  all  the  States,  and  an  imposing  majority  of  the  delegates  from 
all  the  other  represented  States.  It  had  still,  however,  to  secure  the 
approval  of  the  people  of  these  States.  The  grave  necessity  of  the  situ 
ation,  involving  as  it  did  all  the  results  of  the  war,  justified  and  re 
quired  an  appeal  to  the  sovereign  people  of  each  State  in  convention 
assembled,  and  to  place  it  out  of  the  power  of  a  few  States  to  destroy  the 


42  YOKKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

hopes  and  wreck  the  interests  of  all,  it  was  wisely  provided  that  upon 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  by  nine  of  the  States,  the  Union  there 
under  between  these  assenting  States  should  be  established,  and  a  gov 
ernment  for  that  Union  elected  and  inaugurated  under  that  Constitu 
tion. 

The  opposition  to  the  Constitution,  which  had  failed  in  the  Convention 
to  prevent  its  recommendation  to  the  States,  was  now  transferred,  with 
a  vehement  zeal  we  can  scarcely  comprehend  at  this  day,  to  the  several 
State  conventions.  Many  of  its  opponents  enjoyed  the  most  deserved 
reputations  at  home  and  abroad  for  patriotism  and  sagacity,  arid  com 
manded  the  public  ear  and  the  public  confidence  to  an  extent  no  less 
than  that  of  its  authors  and  friends.  The  contest  waxed  warm  in  almost 
all  of  the  States.  In  but  three,  and  they  among  the  smallest,  was  the 
Constitution  adopted  without  contest.  Its  fate  remained  long  in  doubt 
in  many  of  the  others,  and  upon  the  final  vote  in  the  conventions  of  the 
three  great  States  of  Virginia,  Massachusetts,  and  ^NTew  York  it  escaped 
rejection  by  very  narrow  majorities. 

In  the  immediate  retrospect  of  the  perils  of  this  period,  General  Wash 
ington,  in  his  first  inaugural  address,  speaks  thus: 

uNo  people  can  be  bound  to  acknowledge  and  adore  the  invisible  hand 
which  conducts  the  affairs  of  men  more  than  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  Every  step  by  which  they  have  advanced  to  the  character  of  an 
independent  nation  seems  to  have  been  distinguished  by  some  token  of 
Providential  agency ;  and  in  the  important  revolution  just  accomplished 
in  the  system  of  their  united  government,  the  tranquil  deliberations  and 
voluntary  consent  of  so  many  distinct  communities,  from  which  the 
event  has  resulted,  cannot  be  compared  with  the  means  by  which  most 
governments  have  been  established  without  some  return  of  pious  grati 
tude,  along  with  an  humble  anticipation  of  the  future  blessings  which 
the  past  seems  to  presage." 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  hesitating  doubts  of  that  day,  the  verdict 
of  history  has  been  long  since  written,  and  upon  her  pages  the  Conven 
tion  which  framed  our  immortal  Constitution  will  challenge  through  all 
coining  time  the  veneration  and  gratitude  of  all  mankind,  and  its  work 
will  be  commended  as  the  most  wonderful  production  of  wisdom  and 
genius  which  ever  sprang  from  the  brain  of  uninspired  man. 

We  can  only  speculate  what  might  have  been  the  consequences  of  the 
rejection  of  the  Constitution,  and  with  what  feelings  and  under  what 
circumstances  this  American  people  would  have  looked  back  to-day  to 
the  hundred  years  ago  if  this  great  E  Pluribus  Unum  of  ours,  this 
Union  under  the  Constitution,  had  not  been  created.  What  have  been 
the  blessed  results,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  of  its  establishment,  are 
matters  of  history  now,  and  we  are  here  to-day,  the  representatives  of 
her  fifty  millions  of  freemen,  to  voice  their  jubilant  thanksgiving  for 
the  past,  and  to  send  heavenward  their  fervent  prayer  of  faith  and  hope 
for  the  future,  Esto  perpetua. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Nor  are  we  here  alone.  It  would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  we  were.  The 
glories  of  Yorktown  of  1781  are  linked  with  other  memories  and  other 
names  than  those  of  our  own  honored  dead,  and  we  would  not,  if  we 
could  do  so  with  the  most  even  hand,  apportion  among  them  the  com 
mon  laurels  of  Washington  and  Koehambeau,  La  Fayette  and  Knox,  De 
Grasse  and  Lincoln,  Steuben  and  Hamilton.  The  descendants  of  those 
generous  allies  come  hither  to-day,  welcome  to  open  hearts  and  open 
homes,  bearing  the  greeting  of  the  Old  World  to  the  New,  and  the 
accordant  voice  of  the  children  of  the  great  Eepublic  of  Europe  unites 
with  that  of  the  children  of  the  great  Republic  of  America  in  one  com 
mon  anthem. 

There  are  other  voices,  too,  which,  sweeping  over  yon  wide  expanse  of 
waters,  come  to  unite  with  ours.  They  come  in  the  familiar  accents  of 
the  mother  tongue  from  the  Saxon  homes  and  Norman  castles  of  the 
Fatherland  which,  from  and  before  the  days  of  Runny  mede,  have 
nursed  and  cherished  in  yeoman  and  baron  the  spirit  of  Constitutional 
liberty.  One  hundred  years  of  peace  and  of  fraternal  intercourse  have 
forever  dissipated  the  angry  passions  and  healed  the  wounds  of  that 
unhapp^  fratricidal  war,  and  the  intelligent  Englishman  of  to-day  rec 
ognizes  the  19th  of  October,  1781,  as  a  mile-stone  in  the  path  our  Fa 
thers  had  been  sent  by  his  Fathers  to  this  virgin  land  commissioned  to* 
tread. 

The  time  has  passed  when  the  erection  of  this  Monument  could  be^ 
attributed  to  any  spirit  of  vulgar  exultation  over  the  defeat  of  an  unsuc 
cessful  enemy,  or  any  disposition  to  revive  and  transmit  memories  which 
could  tend  to  alienate  us  and  our  children  from  our  and  their  kindred 
beyond  the  great  sea. 

The  event  this  occasion  proposes  to  commemorate  was  scarcely  less 
critical  to  British  than  it  was  to  American  liberty,  and  we  are  simply  here 
to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  heroic  virtue  in  the  successful  defense  of 
British  birthright.  Have  we  not  then  a  right  to  claim  the  sympathies 
of  every  heart  of  kindred  blood  all  over  the  world — and  is  it  a  mere 
delusion  of  our  over-eager  ears,  which  seems  to  catch  in  the  distance  the 
echoes  of  our  thanksgiving  songs  as  they  are  rolling  back  to  us  now  o'er 
the  land  and  the  sea — from  the  emigrant  homes  of  Canada — from  the  far 
away  shores  of  New  Zealand — from  the  gold  fields  of  Australia — from 
India's  coral  strand — as  well  as  from  the  dear  old  homesteads  of  the 
Fatherland  by  the  Thames  and  the  Mersey,  the  Clyde,  the  Tweed,  and 
the  Shannon  ? 

The  committee  of  the  United  States  Congress  imposed  upon  us,  my 
Brethren,  a  grateful  office  when  we  were  invited,  with  our  Ancient  Rites 
and  Ceremonies,  to  lay  the  Corner-stone  of  this  Monument.  The  duty 
we  have  performed  is  one  of  not  unfrequent  experience,  but  the  privi 
lege  is  rarely  afforded  of  performing  that  duty  under  circumstances  where 
all  the  surroundings  of  the  occasion  are  so  interesting  and  suggestive. 


44  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

and  the  harmony  of  the  Ceremonies  with  the  purposes  of  the  building 
so  beautifully  apparent. 

Ours  is  a  language  of  symbols.  We  teach  morality,  and  enforce  duty 
not  merely  in  didactic  prose,  but  in  the  poetry  of  allegory  and  parable. 
All  of  our  Forms  and  Kites  have  attached  to  them  a  deep  significance, 
and  are  designed  for  wise  and  useful  purposes.  The  Ceremonies  in 
which  we  have  just  participated,  carry  with  them  to  every  intelligent 
mind  the  reiteration  of  the  great  truth  proclaimed  from  the  Mount  over 
looking  Gennessaret,  that  to  build  wisely  or  securely — either  for  the  in 
dividual  or  for  the  community,  for  time  or  eternity — we  must  lay  a 
foundation  upon  the  solid  rock. 

This  proposed  Monument  is  a  great  symbol,  and  designed  by  its  pro 
jectors  in  the  poetry  of  art  to  inculcate  to  generations  in  the  distant 
future  great  moral  lessons  of  public  duty,  and  stimulate  to  the  cultiva 
tion  and  practice  of  public  virtue  by  the  force  of  honorable  and  honored 
example. 

How  beautifully  consistent  is  that  object  with  our  history  and  tradi 
tions,  and  with  the  sublime  morality  we  teach. 

The  theory  of  our  institution — the  historical  accuracy  of  which  it  is 
unnecessary,  and  would  be  impossible  here  fully  to  discuss — attributes 
our  organization  to  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  and  teaches  that  we  are 
the  custodians  of  valuable  traditions  and  Kites  which  we  have  received 
in  an  unbroken  line  of  descent  from  the  architects  of  the  Temple  at 
Jerusalem.  That  theory  assumes  that  the  original  design  of  the  Insti 
tution  was  to  enforce  order  and  morality,  and  to  secure  the  efficient 
and  harmonious  co-operation  of  more  than  150,000  workmen  in  one 
stupendous  undertaking;  and  that  this  object  was  proposed  to  be  ac 
complished  by  appealing  to  no  vulgar  hopes  or  fears  of  mere  personal 
ease  or  gain. 

The  undertaking  in  which  they  were  engaged,  the  erection  of  a  Tem 
ple  for  the  worship  of  the  living  God,  was  designed  to  stimulate  and 
gratify  the  aspirations  of  man's  higher  nature. 

To  that  higher  nature  the  appeal  was  made,  and  the  straight  paths 
of  duty  sought  to  be  commended  by  enlightening  the  conscience  and 
winning  the  heart.  The  plan  of  the  organization — the  principles  of  its 
administration — the  Forms  and  Ceremonies  of  its  proceedings — the  signs 
and  pass-words  and  tokens  by  which  one  Mason  was  enabled  to  know 
another  in  the  dark  as  well  as  the  light — were  all  so  wisely  selected  and 
adjusted  by  the  Master  Workman  to  the  necessities  of  man's  moral 
nature,  and  to  the  promotion  among  its  votaries  of  individual  and  social 
virtue,  that  such  an  Institution  could  not  die  with  the  occasion  which 
had  called  it  into  existence. 

When  the  Cap-stone  of  the  Temple  had  been  finally  set  in  place,  and 
the  army  of  workmen  had  been  disbanded,  we  may  well  imagine  how 
jealously  the  intelligent  Tyrian  Mason,  upon  returning  to  his  home  in 
the  then  commercial  center  of  the  East,  would  have  cherished  arid  pre- 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  45 

served  any  institution  identified  with  that  eventful  era  of  his  life.  lie 
had  gone  forth  from  his  own  land  under  the  orders  of  Hiram,  his  King, 
and  accompanied  by  that  other  Hiram,  son  of  a  Tyrian  father  and  of  a 
widowed  mother  of  the  Tribe  of  Naphthali,  that  man  "  filled  with  wis 
dom  and  understanding,  and  cunning  to  work  all  works  in  brass,"  to 
whom  the  inspired  Hebrew  record  attributes  the  designing  and  super 
vision  of  all  the  brazen  ornaments  of  the  Temple  cast  in  the  clay  grounds 
between  Succoth  and  Zarthan.  He  had  shared  with  his  Hebrew  fel 
low-workmen  in  the  toil  of  the  unfinished,  and  rightfully  claimed  some 
part  and  parcel  of  the  glory  of  the  finished  Temple.  If  this  Institution 
of  ours  had  then  been  common  property,  we  cannot  doubt  that  the 
Tyrian  Craftsman  would  have  carried  it  with  him  to  his  seaboard  home, 
and  thence  transferred  it  through  the  channels  of  trade  and  commerce 
which  centered  there. 

We  can  readily  understand  also  how  the  lost  Tribes  of  Israel  in  their 
captivity,  and  in  that  dispersion  among  the  Gentiles  which  has  never 
yet  been  traced,  in  apostatizing  from  their  religion,  could  have  cor 
rupted  the  Institution  to  conform  to  the  false  faith  they  accepted  j  and 
how  the  Jewish  captives  who  never  returned  from  Babylon,  could  have 
concurred  with  the  men  of  Tyre  in  perpetuating  it  among  their  surround 
ing  peoples. 

But  wherever  the  Institution  went,  in  perpetuating  a  line  of  legiti 
mate  descent,  its  votaries  were  compelled  to  exact  a  recognition  of  the 
God  of  Israel  as  the  Supreme  Architect  and  Law  Giver  of  the  Universe, 
and  the  acceptance  of  the  code  of  Sinai  as  the  moral  law  of  universal 
obligation,  and  to  forbid  the  performance  of  any  Masonic  work  without 
the  presence,  wide  open  upon  the  altar,  of  His  Holy  Writings — at  least 
to  the  extent  to  which  they  wrere  accepted  and  received  by  Solomon  of 
Israel  at  the  building  of  the  Temple. 

Our  theory  of  legitimate  descent  through  the  Babylonian  exiles  who 
returned  under  Zerubbabel,  and  shared  the  toil  and  honor  of  rebuilding 
the  fallen  Temple,  is  easily  consistent  with  the  notorious  fact  that  among 
the  false  faiths  of  the  East 'there  have  existed,  and  do  exist,  bastard 
offspring  of  our  common  ancestor,  who  claim  with  us,  under  hereditary 
tradition,  descent  from  the  builders  of  the  first  Temple  at  Jerusalem. 

If  that  theory  be  rejected  it  will  be  found  extremely  difficult  to  sug 
gest  any  other  which  can  explain  that  undisputed  and  indisputable  fact. 
The  obligation  devolves  upon  those  who  dispute  the  theory  to  indicate 
some  possible  period  when  the  fathers  of  these  disciples  of  Zoroaster  and 
Mohammed,  these  children  of  Ashur  and  Elam  and  Ishmael,  could  have 
concurred  with  our  fathers  in  accepting  as  common  ancestors  the  build 
ers  of  the  Temple,  and  as  a  common  filial  obligation  the  perpetuation  of 
an  Institution  commemorative  of  the  meridian  glory  of  Israel,  and  of 
the  great  national  acknowledgment  of  all  its  people,  for  themselves  and 
their  children,  claiming  under  them  as  heirs  of  the  promises— of  the 
God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob— of  Bethel,  of  Sinai,  and  of 
Ebenezer — as  the  one  only  true  and  living  God. 


46  YORKTOWN    CELEHRATION. 

Nor  is  it  all  inconsistent  with  our  historic  theory  that  we  work  now 
only  in  Speculative  Masonry.  In  the  very  outset  of  the  Institution, 
others  than  those  engaged  practically  in  architectural  labor  must  have 
i)een  regarded  as  eligible  for  membership,  for  we  cannot  imagine  that 
Solomon,  King  of  Israel,  or  Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  any  more  than  Athel- 
stan,  or  Arthur,  or  St.  Albans,  the  putative  fathers  of  British  Masonry, 
ever  wrought  only  as  Operative  Masons. 

Our  present  work  is  Speculative  Masonry  only,  and  adoption  of  the 
Appellative  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  like  that  of  our  system  of 
Subordinate  and  Grand  Lodge  jurisdietiop,  is  confessedly  of  modern 
origin.  Prior  thereto  there  was  no  central  authority  which  couki  under 
take  to  superintend  or  require  the  preservation  of  any  record,  even  of 
such  things  as  were  proper  or  practicable  to  have  been  written.  The 
perpetuation  of  the  Institution  was  necessarily  dependent  upon  indi 
vidual  Masons,  and  a  sufficient  number  of  them  assembling  together 
might  at  any  time  spontaneously  organize  a  Lodge  for  the  occasion  only, 
and  introduce  new  Brethren.  No  regular  times  or  places  for  the  meet 
ing  of  the  Brethren  could  have  been  generally  practicable.  They  could 
not  assemble  without  the  Holy  Bible,  or  some  portion  thereof,  and  even 
after  the  introduction  of  the  arts  of  paper-making  and  printing  this  re 
quirement  made  it  impossible  for  stated  meetings  of  Lodges  to  be  held 
with  any  regularity,  or  any  records  of  such  meetings,  or  of  rolls  of  the 
participants  therein  to  be  preserved,  with  any  intelligent  regard  to  per 
sonal  safety.  When  the  dissemination  or  custody  of  the  Holy  Word 
was  a  criminal  offense,  an  Institution  which  required  the  presence  of 
that  Word  at  every  assembling  of  the  Craft  and  every  known  member 
of  the  Craft  must  have  been  a  natural  object  of  suspicion  with  the  au 
thorities  of  the  despotic  government. 

It  is  not  remarkable,  therefore,  that  we  cannot  verify  our  ancient,  or 
even  our  more  modern,  traditions  by  historical  evidence.  And  it  must 
be  conceded  that  these  traditions,  in  their  transmission  through  so  many 
.years,  by  mere  oral  communication  from  one  brother  to  another,  come 
to  us  under  circumstances  which  justify  some  skeptical  doubt  as  to  the 
<ixact  verity  of  many  of  them. 

As  to  some  of  our  modern  traditions,  however,  we  have  abundant  war 
rant  from  profane  history  to  sustain  them.  The  existence  during  the 
middle  ages  throughout  all  Europe  of  societies  of  architects,  correspond 
ing  to  our  traditions  of  the  days  when  our  fathers  wrought  in  Operative 
Masonry,  and  of  the  work  of  those  societies  in  the  construction  of  public 
-edifices,  very  harmonious  with  our  theory  of  the  work  of  ourprimal  fathers 
upon  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  is  a  fact,  beyond  dispute.  A  standard 
Encyclopaedia,  in  speaking  of  these  societies,  says  :  "  They  were  composed 
of  members  from  Italy,  Germany,  The  Netherlands,  France,  England, 
Scotland,  and  other  countries  (sometimes  even  from  Greece),  and  united 
under  very  similar  constitutions — for  instance,  at  the  erection  of  the  con- 
Tent  of  Batalha,  in  Portugal,  about  1400;  of  the  minster  of  Strasburg, 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  47 

1015  to  1430;  that  of  Cologne,  950  and  1211  to  13(>5;  of  the  Cathedral  of 
Meissen,  in  the  tenth  century;  of  the  Cathedral  of  Milan,  the  Convent  of 
Monte  Cassino,  and  of  the  most  remarkable  buildings  of  the  British 
Isles."  Among  these  "  remarkable  buildings  of  the  British  Isles,"  it  is  a 
prominent  fact  in  British  history,  perpetuated  by  the  inscription  upon  his 
tombstone  under  the  choir  of  St.  Paul's,  "Lector  si  Momimentwn  qucerfaj 
I'h'cuMspiee,"  that  that  venerable  Cathedral  rose  from  the  ashes  of  the 
great  fire  of  16(33,  under  the  supervising  genius  of  our  illustrious  Brother, 
Christopher  Wren,  then  Grand  Master  of  Masons  in  England. 

As  to  some  of  our  more  ancient  traditions,  if  skeptical  doubts  extend 
to  the  substance,.they  must  go  farther  than  merely  to  attribute  innocent 
mistakings  to  some  of  the  intermediaries  through  whom  we  have  received 
them.  If  they  be  entirely  untrue,  there  must  have  been  a  conspiring  to 
gether  at  some  time  of  many  minds  to  impose  falsehood  as  truth  upon  all 
who  would  accept  from  them  our  mysteries.  The  mere  conception  of 
such  a  fraud  must  have  been  the  work  of  some  wonderful  genius,  some 
mightier  master  of  allegory  than  Bunyan;  and  its  no  less  wonderful  suc 
cess  the  joint  work  of  himself  and  co-conspirators — all  of  "whom  must 
have  enjoyed  at  least  reputable  characters  among  their  associates,  for  the 
only  avowed  purpose  or  conceivable  object  of  the  fraud  was  to  inculcate 
through  all  coming  time  the  loftiest  human  morality.  Whether  it  re 
quires  more  credulity  to  believe  in  the  conception  and  success  of  such  a 
fraud,  perpetrated  by  such  men  for  such  an  object,  or  to  accept  the  tradi 
tions  as  truthful  so  far  as  human  memory,  unaided  by  any  con  temporary 
records  could  preserve  and  transmit  them,  we  need  not  now  stop  to 
discuss. 

In  the  days  when  the  ownership  of  a  single  copy  of  the  Bible  was  a 
privilege  which  few  could  hope  to  attain,  and  none  to  enjoy  without 
hazard,  wre  may  well  imagine  how  eagerly  the  seclusion  of  the  Lodge- 
Boom,  and  the  facilities  there  afforded  for  reading  and  studying  the 
inspired  volume,  would  have  been  sought  by  many  very  earnest  inquirers 
:after  the  Truth.  That  every  Lodge-Room  in  which  the  great  Light  of 
Masonry  shone  from  the  altar  should  be  the  nursery  of  liberal  thought 
and  charitable  opinion  might  naturally  be  expected.  The  intelligent 
mind  which  cordially  accepted  the  beautiful  tenets  of  our  profession  and 
its  law  of  love  and  charity  as  the  rule  of  human  conduct,  could  not  be 
neutral  in  any  struggle  for  the  rights  of  individual  conscience,  assailed  by 
the  fires  of  persecution.  And  we  cannot  deny,  but  we  may  glory  in  the 
concession,  that  in  this  manner  our  Institution  has  performed  no  useless 
office  in  the  great  battles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  that  the  grand 
army  of  martyrs  has  been  recruited  to  no  inconsiderable  extent  from 
the  ranks  of  our  brethren  of  those  by-gone  days. 

Persecution  necessarily  provokes  concert  of  action  among  its  threatened 
victims,  and  no  concert  of  action  can  be  had  except  under  some  veil  of 
secrecy.  It  is  not  remarkable,  therefore,  that  in  those  days  secret  socie 
ties  abounded,  but  it  would  have  been  remarkable  if  all  of  them  had 


48  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

been  instituted  and  fostered  for  laudable  purposes.  Many  of  them, 
probably,  did  contribute  to  turbulence,  and  disloyalty  to  the  State  in  its 
legitimate  sphere  of  action,  and  it  was  not  unnatural  that  all  of  these  socie 
ties  should  have  been  confounded  together,  and,  the  offendings  of  the 
guilty  should  have  been  sometimes  imputed  to  the  guiltless. 

Whether  the  evil  which  was  done  or  threatened  by  some  of  these  socie 
ties  was  not  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  good  which  was  done  or 
proposed  to  be  done  by  the  others,  is  a  question  upon  which  even  now 
there  may  be  no  little  dispute,  even  among  those  who  would  be  glad  to 
hold  Masonry  responsible  for  all  the  evil.  . 

But  if  the  existence  of  these  societies  did  justify  the  hostility  of 
despotic  governments  to  all  secret  societies,  and  the  opposition  to  them 
entertained  by  many  individuals  now,  our  Institution  ought  not  to  come 
under  the  ban  of  the  censure. 

It  is  possible — ay,  very  probable — that  in  those  days  when  there  was 
no  superintending  authority — when  a  few  individual  Masons  might  form 
a  Lodge,  and  each  Lodge  interpret  for  itself  the  law  of  the  ancient 
landmarks,  Masonry  was  sometimes  perverted  by  the  mistaken  zeal  of 
brethren  who  were  the  victims  of  persecution,  into  a  political  engine. 
But  this  was  the  fault  of  individuals,  and  not  of  the  Institution.  Its 
fundamental  teachings  all  forbade  the  use  of  the  Institution  for  any  such 
purpose,  and  its  perversion  to  such  purpose  would  have  been  readily 
avoided  if  any  supervising  Grand  Lodge  could  have  been  then  estab 
lished. 

But  whatever  objections  might  have  been  justly  urged  against  Masonry 
as  a  secret  society  in  those  days,  none  of  them  exist  now. 

All  of  our  Lodges  now  are  under  the  control  of  a  supervising  Grand 
Lodge,  which  declares  and  construes  the  law,  and  enforces  itsobservance, 
and  no  number  of  Masons  can  assemble  for  any  Masonic  work  without 
the  authority  of  a  warrant  from  some  Grand  Lodge. 

Ours  is  in  no  just  sense  a  secret  society.  It  is  a  confidential  society. 
The  times  and  places  of  our  meetings,  our  purposes  and  objects,  our  roll 
of  membership,  our  code  of  morals — are  all  publicly  known  and  avowed. 
Our  membership  embraces  men  of  every  grade  of  respectable  society, 
every  sect  of  religion,  every  shade  of  political  opinion,  and  it  is  the  privi 
lege  of  every  member  of  one  Lodge  in  good  standing  with  his  own  Lodge 
to  attend  any  of  the  meetings  of  sister  Lodges. 

Our  code  of  morals  is  known  and  understood  to  be  the  same  which  ia 
proclaimed  from  every  Christian  pulpit  and  Hebrew  synagogue  when 
ever  the  people  are  assembled  for  the  worship  of  the  living  God. 

Every  Mason  is  especially  enjoined  to  be  a  peaceable  subject  or  citizen, 
and  never  to  allow  himself  to  be  involved  in  riots  or  conspiracies  against 
the  public  peace  and  the  welfare  of  the  nation. 

Our  Brethren,  who  live  under  monarchical  governments,  where  the 
State  is  represented  by  an  individual,  are  accustomed  to  emphasize  their 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  4  (.) 

recognition  of  this  obligation  by  electing  as  their  Grand  Master  the 
reigning  monarch,  if  a  Mason,  and  if  he  be  not,  the  heir  apparent,  if  he 
be,  and  thus  inviting  in  advance  his  official  approval  of  all  Masonic  ac 
tion. 

It  is  with  them  a  practice,  which  beautifully  harmonizes  the  reverence 
of  Masonry  for  liberty  and  order — for  while  Masonry  regards  no  man 
for  his  mere  worldly  wealth  and  honors,  she  does  teach,  as  a  cardinal 
civil  virtue,  loyalty  to  the  State;  and  while  she  invests  the  representa 
tive  of  the  State  with  her  highest  honors,  that  representative  accepts 
and  wears  them  as  of  her  free  and  sovereign  choice. 

With  us  no  such  practice  can  be  needed  or  observed ;  but  the  sugges 
tion  of  the  practice  naturally  recalls  an  interesting  incident  in  our  na 
tional  and  Masonic  history,  when  the  President  of  the  United  States  ap 
peared  at  the  head  of  a  Masonic  procession,  clad  in  Masonic  clothing, 
to  perform  the  same  Masonic  office  which  you,  Most  Worshipful  Grand 
Master,  have  this  day  performed.  The  contemporary  journals  of  the  day 
record  the  proceedings  in  Washington  City,  on  the  18th  September, 
1793,  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  first  capitol  of  the  United 
States,  when  George  Washington,  then  President  of  the  United  States, 
in  concert  with  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Maryland,  several  Lodges  under  its 
jurisdiction,  and  his  own  Virginia  Lodge  No.  22,  of  Alexandria,  of  which, 
he  had  been  Worshipful  Master,  laid  that  corner-stone,  with  all  our  an 
cient  ceremonies.  * 

When  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Virginia  assumed  the  performance  of  this 
duty,  in  looking  forward  to  this  day,  it  anticipated  the  promised  pres 
ence  and  co-operation  of  our  distinguished  Brother,  the  then  President 
of  the  United  States. 

In  the  inscrutable  Providence  of  Almighty  God  he  is  not  here.  The 
wail  of  a  people,  from  Ocean  to  Ocean,  and  from  Gulf  to  Lake,  in  their 
recent  sorrow  at  his  untimely  end,  and  their  mighty  wrath  at  "the  deep 
damnation  of  his  taking  off,"  has  scarcely  died  upon  the  ear.  At  high 
noon  of  a  life  which  had  manifested  the  largest  capacity  for  public  use 
fulness,  and  the  highest  public  virtue — with  his  designs  all  unexecuted, 
upon  the  great  trestle  board  which  the  people  of  this  Union,  ia  their 
confiding  faith,  had  committed  to  him — the  fell  hand  of  the  assassin  has 
struck  him  down  ;  and,  though  fifty  millions  of  people  would  have  rallied 
to  his  rescue,  in  the  suddenness  of  his  peril  there  was  no  help  for  the 
Widow's  Son.  He  has  gone  down  to  a  grave  watered  with  the  tears  of 
a  nation  of  mourners — but  he  lives,  and  will  live  in  the  hearts  and  the 
memories  of  his  people — and  around  our  altars  the  story  of  his  life  and 
death,  so  beautifully  harmonious  with  our  legendary  traditions,  will  be 
told  for  generations  yet  to  come,  not  only  with  the  pride  of  fellow- citi 
zenship,  but  with  the  deeper  and  tenderer  interest  which  thrills  the 
heart  at  mention  of  uthe  household  name  of  one  whom  God  has  taken." 

But  in  his  own  grandly  eloquent  words  upon  a  similar  occasion: 
" Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  Him.    His  pavilion  is  dark  wa- 
S.  Eep.  1003 4 


50  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

ters  and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies.  Justice  and  judgment  are  the  estab 
lishment  of  his  throne.  Mercy  and  truth  shall  go  before  His  face.  God 
reigns,  and  the  Government  at  Washington  still  lives." 

Our  Brother  is  dead,  but  our  President  lives,  and  honors  this  occasion 
with  his  presence  to-day.  And  to  you,  sir,  as  the  Constitutional  Execu 
tive  of  our  common  country,  we  tender  the  assurance  that  in  the  dis 
charge  of  the  delicate  duties  of  your  high  office,  you  will  receive  from 
every  intelligent  Mason,  who  is  faithful  to  the  tenets  of  his  profession, 
all  that  sympathy  and  support  which  good  citizenship  can  require  or 
pure  patriotism  can  suggest;  and  we  pledge  you  the  whole  moral  weight 
of  our  Institution,  as  well  in  this  land  of  the  South  as  in  that  of  the  North 
— as  well  along  this  Atlantic  Seaboard,  as  in  the  Great  Valley  beyond 
and  upon  the  far-off  Pacific  shores — to  secure  for  your  Administration 
the  aid  and  co-operation  of  the  whole  body  of  the  people,  in  your  every 
effort  to  make  that  Administration  redound  to  the  honor  and  glory  of 
the  People,  the  maintenance  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  preservation 
of  the  Union. 

Since  the  establishment  of  our  present  system  of  Grand  Lodges — now 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  gone  by — records  of  all  things 
proper  to  be  written  have  been  generally  preserved.  The  character  of 
any  institution — especially  one  like  ours — can  be  only  fairly  estimated 
by  the  character  of  the  men  who  have  been  its  directors  and  upholders. 
Our  rolls  of  membership  may  not  be  entirely  complete,  but  they  are 
abundantly  enough  so  to  show  that  they  have  embraced  all  the  while 
names  which  commanded  the  respect  and  homage  of  their  contempora 
ries,  for  moral  worth  and  public  and  private  usefulness.  Naturally 
enough,  it  is  rich  in  names  of  men  of  liberal  thought,  who  have  cham 
pioned  the  advance  of  Constitutional  right. 

Especially  is  this  the  case  in  our  own  country — in  her  later  Colonial 
•history  and  the  earlier  days  of  Independence.  We  have  remaining 
i  records  of  various  army  Lodges,  traveling  with  the  army,  and  composed 
?>to  a  large  extent  of  the  most  prominent  and  esteemed  officers  in  the 
'Continental  service. 

When,  in  September,  1774,  the  Continental  Congress  assembled  in 
Philadelphia  to  consolidate  the  Colonies,  for  the  purpose  of  remon 
strance  against  the  aggressions  of  Parliament,  and  of  warning  of  the 
inevitable  consequences  of  persistence  therein,  that  Assembly  of  anx 
ious  patriots  began  their  deliberations  by  selecting  as  their  presiding 
officer,  our  Peyton  Randolph. 

When  the  futility  of  remonstrance  had  been  demonstrated,  and  the 
hour  for  resistance  had  come,  it  was  our  Paul  Revere  who  made  that 
historic  midnight  ride  to  summon  the  yeomanry  of  Massachusetts  to 
meet  the  coming  foe  and  "welcome  the  invaders,  with  bloody  hands,  to 
hospitable  graves." 

When  Lexington  and  Concord  had  inaugurated  the  Revolution,  and 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  51 

John  Adams  arose  upon  the  floor  of  Congress  to  nominate  a  commander- 
in-chief  of  our  armies,  he  gave  voice  to  the  unanimous  sentiment  which 
centered  upon  our  peerless  Washington. 

Bunker  Hill  sent  out  her  message  of  defiance,  and  of  assurance  that 
America  could  not  be  conquered,  sealed  with  the  life-blood  of  our  War 
ren. 

It  was  our  Franklin  who,  after  signing  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence,  was  sent  abroad  as  the  representative  of  the  struggling  States  at 
the  Court  of  France,  through  whom  was  negotiated  the  Treaty  of  Al 
liance  with  France,  which  insured  our  success  and  the  final  Treaty  of 
Peace  with  Great  Britain,  which  recognized  it. 

It  was  the  fall  of  our  Montgomery  upon  the  Heights  of  Abraham 
which  sealed  the  disastrous  result  of  the  Canadian  campaign ;  and  at 
the  price  of  the  life  of  our  Mercer,  the  victory  at  Princeton  was  achieved. 

It  was  our  La  Fayette  who,  at  the  sacrifice  of  ease  and  fortune  at 
home,  came  to  us  with  the  first  message  of  practical  sympathy  from 
abroad ;  shared  all  the  burdens  and  vicissitudes  of  our  for  tunes ;  as 
the  boy -General  in  command  of  our  forces,  baffled  the  advance  of  Corn- 
wallis,  compelled  his  occupation  of  York,  and  shared  the  laurels  of  his 
final  surrender. 

When  the  war  had  closed  in  triumph,  and  the  agony  of  the  succeed 
ing  crisis  had  passed,  and  the  people  of  these  States  had  ordained  the 
establishment  of  this  Union,  and  had  elected  the  officers  to  execute  their 
will,  and  the  President  of  their  choice  came  forward  to  take  the  oath 
of  office  before  the  assembled  Congress,  in  New  York  City,  three  cen 
tral  objects  stood  out  upon  the  canvas. 

The  President  was  our  own  Washington,  pledging  the  acceptance  of 
his  high  office  and  the  exercise  of  all  its  functions  and  powers  in  sub 
ordination  to  the  law  of  the  land,  and  verifying  the  sincerity  of  that 
pledge  by  a  reverent  appeal  to  the  God  of  the  Bible,  in  the  forms  of 
law,  before  an  officer  of  the  law.  That  officer  of  the  law  was  the  Chan 
cellor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  our  Most  Worshipful  Brother  Eobert 
E.  Livingston,  Grand  Master  of  Masons  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
The  Boly  Bible,  upon  which  the  first  President  impressed  his  lips,  was 
then  brought,  for  this  occasion,  from  the  altar  of  St.  John's  Lodge,  No. 
1,  of  New  York  City,  and  is  still  sacredly  preserved  by  that  ancient 
Lodge. 

If  this  Corner  stone  could  have  been  laid  when  the  Continental  Con 
gress  proposed  that  it  should  have  been,  and  the  duty  we  have  per 
formed  had  been  then  devolved  upon  this  Grand  Lodge  of  Virginia, 
the  exalted  position  now  occupied  by  you  so  worthily,  my  Most  Wor 
shipful  Brother,  would  have  been  filled  by  John  Blair,  the  associate  of 
Washington  and  Madison  in  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States,  and  their  only  associate  who  concurred 
with  them  in  commending  that  Constitution  to  the  acceptance  of 


52  TORKTOWX    CELEBRATION. 

the  people  of  Virginia,  who  was  subsequently,  by  the  appointment  of 
the  President  and  confirmation  of  the  Senate,  one  of  the  first  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States ;  and  around  him  as  repre 
sentatives  of  the  Craft  of  Virginia  would  have  been  gathered  George 
•lington,  Edmund  Randolph,  and  John  Marshall. 

New  Humsphire  would  have  sent  her  John  Sullivan;  Massachusetts, 
her  Henry  Knox:  Connecticut,  her  Israel  Putnam;  Rhode  Island,  her 
William  Barton;  STew  York,  her  Robert  II.  Livingston,  De  Witt  Clinton, 
Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  and  Morgan  Lewis;  Xew  Jersey,  her  Aaron 
Ogden;  Pennsylvania,  her  Benjamin  Franklin;  Maryland,  her  Otho 
H.  Williams;  North  Carolina,  her  Richard  Caswell  and  Williamson  R. 
Davie;  South  Carolina,  her  Mordecai  R-  Gist;  Georgia,  her  James 
Jackson ;  and  our  generous  allies,  their  La  Fayette  and  Steuben. 

Fresh  from  the  agonies  and  trials  of  the  Revolution,  with  the  scars 
of  battle  and  the  laurels  of  victory,  they  would  have  come  to  symbolize 
in  this  memorial  shaft  the  stern  virtues  Hy  which  victory  had  been 
achieved  and  Independence  won.  Planting  it  here  where  it  could  over 
look  the  sea,  they  would  have  made  it  luminous  with  words  of  cheer  and 
hope  to  every  people  struggling  up  the  hill  of  Constitutional  Liberty 
as  it  pointed  with  the  light  of  experience  the  assured  pathway  to  the 
summit;  and  for  us  and  for  ours  with  words  of  tender  precatory  warn 
ing  that  by  the  practice  and  observance  of  the  virtues  by  which  Inde 
pendence  was  won,  and  by  that  means  only  could  the  blood-bought  in 
heritance  be  retained  and  transmitted  unimpaired  to  our  children  and 
our  children's  children. 

That  message  as  it  was  intended  for  us,  enforced  by  our  own  grateful 
experience  of  one  hundred  years,  we  come  here  for  them  to  send  sound 
ing  down  the  ages. 

The  Corner-stone  has  been  laid,  and  it  only  remains  for  the  workmen 
now  to  pile  high  the  shaft  and  fit  it  for  the  Cap-stone.  God  speed  them 
in  the  blessed  work.  For,  when  it  is  complete,  it  will  stand  for  genera 
tions  vet  to  come,  speaking  thus  from  graves  over  which  the  Acacia  will 
never  cease  to  bloom,  in  a  voice  which  will  command  audience: 

We  hate  built  tiuxe  itistitutions  of  American  Liberty  upon  no  shifting 
sands  of  temporary  expediency,  but  upon  the  Eternal  Kock  of  political  right 
and  truth,  and  in  the  conservation  and  preservation  of  them— Have  Faith — 
Hare  Hope — Hate  Charity — and  the  rains  may  descend— the  floods  may 
come — the  winds  may  blow  and  beat  upon  them  ;  but  they  will  not  fall — 
for  they  are  founded  upon  the  Sock. 


GRAND  FANTASIA. 

"  International  Congress,"  "  Sonaa," 
By  the  Marine  Band,  conducted  by  Mr.  J.  PHILIP  >    USA 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  53 


4  P.  M. 

C  O  N  C  E  R  T . 

AT     GRAND     STAND,   MONUMENT     SITE,      BY    THE   [FIRST    UNITED) 
BAND,    CARL   KREYER,    LEADER. 

1.  MARCH— "Adjutant  Davis" 

t  2.  OVERTURE — "  Der  Tambour  du  Garde  " 

3.  WALTZ— Plnie  d'Or WaldtenfeL 

4.  CORNET  SOLO— De  Berist's  5th  Air Price. 

5.  PARAPHRASE — "  How  Fair  Thou  Art" Xesvadba. 

6.  SELECTION — Trovatore Verdi. 

7.  DANSE— Des  Sultanes Polak  Daniels. 

S.  WALTZ— Flots  de  Joies WaldtenfeL 

9.  OVERTURE — "Lespoir  de  1'Alsace" Herman. 

10.  GALOP— Maraschino Lee. 

4  P.  M. 

AT   STAND,    MILITARY   CAMP.    BY  THE   COLUMBIA    (SOUTH  CAROLINA)    SILVER    CORNET 
BAND,    A.  D.  PALMER,    LEADER. 

1.  QUICKSTEP— "Thirteenth  Regiment" Cogswell. 

2.  ANDANTE  AND  WALTZ — "Emma" Boyer. 

3.  OVERTURE—'  '  Ri  p  Van  Winkle  " Brooks. 

4.  POLKA— "Clarinda'' Keller. 

5.  QUICKSTEP — "Eighth  Regiment" Chambers. 

6.  WALTZ—"  Blue  Danube  ". Strauss. 

7.  OVERTURE— "  Mixed  Candy" Cayicood. 

8.  GALOP — Inauguration Eipley. 

9.  OVERTURE— "Pea  Nuts" Southwell. 

10.  "WASHINGTON  GRAYS" Graffula. 

7.30  P.  M. 

PYROTECHNIC     DISPLAY. 
From  a  boat  moored  in  the  York  River.     J.  W.  BOND,  Pyrotechnist,  Baltimore. 

1.  Aerial  Shells,  Colored.  2.  Flight  of  Heavy  Colored  Rockets. 

3.  "WELCOME." 

1.  Shells  and  Rockets.  5.  Battery. 

6.  Flight  Rockets.  7.  Shells. 

8.  Pyramid. 

9.  Battery.  10.  Chinese  Sun. 

11.  Polka  Dance.  12.  Shells  and  Rockets. 

13.  Blooming  Dahlia, 

14.  Battery.  15.  Dancing  Devils. 

16.  Rockets  and  Shells.  17.  Cascade. 

18.  Rockets  and  Shells. 
19.  Tableau—"  TRIBUTE  TO  THE  THIRTEEN." 

8.30  P.  M. 

PROMENADE    CONCERT   AND    HOP.   ' 
RECEPTION  HALL,  SECOND  U.  S.  ARTILLERY  BAND,  LUIGI  FERRARI,  LEADER. 

1.  GRAND  MARCH „ Graffula. 

2.  OVERTURE—"  Masaneillo " Auber. 

3.  WALTZ— " La  PI ue  d'Or"..  WaldtenfeL 


54  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

4.  POTPOURI — Liederkranz Carl, 

5.  LANCIERS — "  New  York  " Weingarten. 

6.  QUARTETTE — "  Lucie  de  Lammermoor  " Donizetti. 

7.  GALOP—  "  Racquette  " Simons. 

8.  POTPOURI — "Boccacio" Suppe". 

9.  WALTZ—"  To  Thee  " Waldtenfel. 

10.  POTPOURI — "  Martha" Flotow. 

11.  POLKA— "  Levy-Atheii "  (Cornet  Solo) Levy. 

WEDNESDAY,  OCTOBER  19. 

9  A.  M. 

OPEN-AIR    CONCERT. 
AT    GRAND    STAND,    MONUMENT    SITE,    BY    THE    MARINE    BAND,    WASHINGTON,    MR.    J. 

PHILIP  SOUSA,  CONDUCTOR;  MR.  s.  PETROLA,  ASSISTANT. 

1.  OVERTURE — "  Les  Dragoons  de  Villars  " Maillart. 

2.  SELECTION — "Billee  Taylor" Solomons. 

3.  DUETT  FOR  Two  CORNETS — "  Swiss  Boy  " Bent. 

Performed  by  Messrs.  Jaeger  and  Petrola. 

4.  POTPOURI — "  Madame  Favart " Offenbach. 

5.  WALTZ—  "  Pastoral  Songs  " Basquit. 

6.  CAPRICE—" Turkish  " Bendel. 

7.  GAROTTE — "  Myrrha  " Sousa. 

8.  FANTASIA — "  Grand  Duchess" Offenbach. 

9.  GALOP—"  Tout  a  la  Joie  " Fahrbach. 

AT   STAND,    MILITARY   CAMP,  BY   THE   FIFTH   REGIMENT  MARYLAND   NATIONAL    GUARD 

BAND,    A.    ITZEL,    LEADER. 

1.  MARCH — "  Yorktown  Centennial " Itzel. 

Dedicated  to  the  Yorktown  Centennial  Commission. 

2.  OVERTURE—"  Yubel" Bach. 

3.  TURKISH  PATROL—"  The  Night  Watch  " Gretry, 

4.  HUMORESKA — (An  old  German  song,  as  it  would  have  been  treated  by  Bach, 

Strauss,  Lully,  Verdi,  Weber,  and  Wagner) Scherz- 

5.  "  THE  HUSSARS'  RAID  " Spindler. 

6.  OVERTURE — "  Comique  " Keler  Bela. 

7.  VALSE — "  Talisman  " Lannor. 

8.  INTRODUCTION  AND  BRIDAL  CHORUS—"  Lohengrin  " Wagner. 

9.  OVERTURE — "Crown  Diamonds" Auber. 

10.  GALOP—"  Turque  " Poloc-Daniels. 


EXERCISES    ON    THE    19TH   OF    OCTOBER. 
(Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis. ) 

At  11  a.  m.  the  assembly  was  called  to  order  by  Hon.  JohnW.  John 
ston,  chairman  of  the  Congressional  Commission,  and  the  ceremonies 
proceeded  in  the  following  order : 

„  OVERTURE. 

FEST Lentner. 

By  the  United  States  Marine  Band,  conducted  by  Prof.  J.  Philip  Sousa. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  55 

PRAYER   BY   REV.  WILLIAM  L.   HARRIS,    D.  D.    L.  L.  D.,  OF   NEW   YORK. 

(Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.) 

O  Lord,  our  Lord,  how  excellent  is  Thy  name  in  all  the  earth.  Thou 
hast  been  our  dwelling  place  in  all  generations.  Before  the  mountains 
were  brought  forth,  or  ever  Thou  hadst  formed  the  earth  and  the  world, 
even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  Thou  art  God.  Thou  art  the  sov 
ereign  of  all  worlds ;  the  King  eternal,  immortal,  and  invisible ;  the 
only  wise  God,  infinite  in  all  Thy  perfections  and  glorious  in  all  Thy 
ways.  Thou  rulest  in  the  armies  of  Heaven  and  among  the  children  of 
men.  Thou  settest  up  one  and  puttest  down  another  as  seemeth  good 
in  Thy  sight,  and  without  Thee  nothing  is  wise  or  strong  or  good.  Thou 
art  unsearchable,  and  Thy  ways  past  finding  out,  still  Thou  hast  not  left 
Thyself  without  witness,  for  Thou  hast  declared  Thyself — the  wisdom 
and  power  and  goodness — in  the  works  of  Thy  hands,  in  the  ways  of 
Thy  providence  and  in  the  teachings  and  revelations  of  Thy  most  holy 
word. 

Thou,  O  Lord,  wast  our  father's  God,  and  we  will  praise  Thee ;  Thou 
art  our  God,  and  we  will  adore  and  worship  Thee.  Thou  hast  been  very 
gracious  to  us  as  a  people  in  all  our  history.  Thou  hast  not  dealt  so, 
with  any  nation  •  and  as  Thou  didst  appoint  divers  observances  for  Thine 
ancient  people,  and  didst  command  them  to  make  public  thanksgiving 
to  Thee  for  the  many  and  great  deliverances  wrought  oat  for  them  in  the 
overthrow  of  their  enemies,  and  in  other  ways  in  all  their  journeyings 
from  the  house  of  their  bondage  to  the  promised  land,  so  we  desire  this 
day,  as  becoineth  us  at  all  times  and  in  all  places,  to  give  thanks  unto 
Thee  O  Lord,  holy  Father,  Almighty  everlasting  God.  Glory  be  to  the 
Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost ;  as  it  was  in  the  begin 
ning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall  be,  world  without  end. 

In  the  ceremonies  of  this  day,  we  commemorate  and  celebrate  the 
closing  conflict  of  the  long  and  bloody  struggle  of  the  American  Revolu 
tion,  through  whose  baptism  of  fire  and  blood  there  came  to  this  land 
the  political  independence  of  these  United  States  j  and  on  this  day  of 
centennial  observances  we  offer  and  present  unto  Thee,  O  Lord,  our 
most  hearty  thanks  for  this  crowning  victory  achieved  on  this  field,  and 
for  all  the  blessings  and  benefits,  civil,  social,  domestic,  and  religious, 
which  we,  as  a  free,  prosperous,  and  happy  people,  have  so  richly  en 
joyed  for  these  hundred  years. 

We  thank  Thee,  that  the  lines  have  thus  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant  places, 
and  that  we  have  a  goodly  heritage,  a  heritage  of  priceless  cost  and  of 
untold  value,  with  its  wide  domain  of  mountain  and  valley,  of  forest 
and  field  and  flood,  a  heritage  of  freedom  forever. 

We  thank  Thee  for  the  wisdom  which  guided  our  fathers  in  the  organi 
zation  of  our  government,  and  in  laying  broad  and  deep  the  foundations 


56  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

of  our  civil  institutions,  so  as  to  secure  the  establishment  and  perpetuity 
of  popular  civil  government,  and  the  priceless  boon  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  to  us  and  to  all  the  coming  millions  of  this  land. 

For  these  and  for  all  other,  Thy  benefits,  we  render  unto  Thee  this  day 
most  hearty  praise  and  thanksgiving. 

And,  O  Lord,  while  we  thus  offer  unto  Thee  our  tribute  of  praise  and 
thanksgiving,  we  would  at  the  same  time  lift  up  our  hearts  and  our 
voices  together,  in  most  devout  and  earnest  prayer  to  Thee  for  the  con 
tinuance  of  Thy  most  gracious  favor  to  us ;  that  the  rich  inheritance  be-' 
queathed  to  us  by  our  fathers  and  which  we  now  possess,  may  be  per 
petuated  unimpaired  to  us  and  to  our  children,  and  to  our  children's 
children,  to  the  latest  generations  of  men.  In  order  to  this,  may  we 
always  revere  Thy  law  and  keep  Thy  commandments,  and  never,  in  even 
the  most  secret  chambers  of  our  souls,  say  who  is  the  Lord  that  we 
should  obey  his  voice.  May  we  do  justly,  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly 
with  God.  May  all  discord  and  strife,  whether  sectional  or  otherwise, 
conie  to  an  end  and  be  buried  out  of  our  sight  and  be  forgotten  forever. 
May  all  the  people  be  of  one  spirit  and  purpose  to  maintain  and  defend 
our  free  institutions  in  their  integrity  and  purity.  In  Thine  over-ruling 
providence  by  which  Thou  dost  restrain  the  wrath  of  man,  and  cause 
Jhe  remainder  of  wrath  to  praise  Thee,  do  Thou  utterly  confound  and 
defeat  all  the  plans  and  schemes  of  selfish,  designing,  and  wicked  men ; 
and  -a  pure,  unselfish,  and  unspotted  patriotism  inspire  all  the  people, 
whether  they  move  in  high  or  humble  spheres. 

This  land,  O  Lord,  is  still  bowed  down  under  an  unwonted  burden  of 
grief,  brought  upon  us  by  the  untimely  death  of  onr  late  beloved,  hon 
ored,  and  revered  Chief  Magistrate.  While  this  great  sorrow  casts  its 
long  and  dark  shadow  over  this  land,  and  over  all  lands,  may  it  be  not- 
all  darkness  to  us,  but  may  its  gleams  of  light,  begotten  of  faith  in  Thee 
and  hope  in  Thy  promises,  be  multiplied,  until  it  shall  become  to  us 
with  the  Divine  benediction  and  the  Divine  blessing.  Sanctify  this 
sore  bereavement  to  the  good  of  a  sorrowing  nation  ;  and  do  Thou 
grant  thy  special  sustaining  grace  in  this  hour  of  her  great  trial  to  the 
stricken  widow,  to  the  aged  and  afflicted  mother,  and  to  the  fatherless 
children  of  our  late  President. 

And  we  beseech  Thee,  O  Lord,  send  down  Thy  heavenly  blessings 
upon  Thy  servant  the  President  of  these  United  States.  May  he  be 
plentifully  endowed  with  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above,  which  is  pure 
and  peaceable,  gentle  and  easy  to  be  entreated,  full  of  mercy  and  good 
fruits,  without  partiality  and  without  hypocrisy,  so  that  he  may  be 
rightly  and  wisely  led  in  the  great  office  to  which  he  is  called;  and  tkat 
in  the  exceedingly  important,  delicate,  and  difficult  duties  inseparable 
from  the  faithful  execution  of  his  high  trust,  he  may  guide  our  affairs 
with  discretion  and  rule  this  laud  in  righteousness. 

And  may  Thy  special  grace  and  blessing  be  with  all  who  are  in  an- 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  57 

thority  iu  this  nation  ;  upon  tlie  Supreme  Court,  upon  the  Senate,  and 
upon  the  House  of  representatives  ;  upon  the  members  of  the  Cabinet, 
and  upon  all  who  occupy  places  of  trust  or  of  honor  in  our  general  gov 
ernment;  upon  our  Army  and  Navy;  upon  our  sailors  and  soldiers; 
upon  all  State  and  municipal  governments;  that  all  our  rulers  may  rule 
in  Thy  fear  and  with  an  eye  single  to  the  greatest  good  of  the  people, 
and  to  the  greatest  glory  of  Thy  holy  name. 

We  commend  to  Thee  and  .to  Thy  most  gracious  favor  her  Eoyal 
Majesty  Queen  Victoria  and  the  people  over  whom  she  has  ruled  so 
long  and  so  wisely  and  well.  May  the  chain  of  friendship  now  binding 
these  two  great  nations — the  United  States  and  Great  Britain— together 
never  be  broken. 

We  invoke  Thy  special  grace  and  favor  on  the  Eepublic  of  France ; 
and  we  most  sincerely  and  devoutly  pray  that  her  efforts  to  establish 
popular  ment  on  stable  foundations  may  be  crowned  with  speedy 

and  complete  success ;  and  that  the  people,  whose  sympathies,  sacri 
fices,  and  services  were  so  helpful  to  us  in  our  struggle  for  liberty,  may 
receive  and  enjoy  the  fullest  fruition  of  civil  and  religious  freedom  as 
long  as  the  sun  and  moon  endure,  throughout  all  generations. 

We  pray  for  our  distinguished  guests  who  honor  us  with  their  pres 
ence,  and  who  have  come  to  us  across  the  sea,  to  share  in  the  ceremo 
nies  and  festivities  of  the  day  which  the  valor  of  their  fathers  so  greatly 
aided  to  make  memorable  and  illustrious  in  the  annals  of  this  country 
and  in  the  history  of  the  world.  WTheri  they  shall  have  accomplished  the 
purposes  of  their  visit  to  us,  be  pleased  to  protect  them  from  the  perils 
of  the  sea  as  they  return  to  their  own  lands,  and  grant  them  in  health 
and  prosperity  long  to  live,  and  after  death  to  gain  eternal  life  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

We  would  on  this  festal  day  pray  for  all  rulers  and  for  all  peoples  of 
all  lands,  making  the  scope  of  our  supplications  wide  as  Thine  eternal 
love.  May  every  yoke  be  broken ;  may  every  burden  be  unbound,  and 
may  theoppressed  of  all  lands  go  free.  So  rule  and  overrule  in  the 
affairs  of  men  that  all  ciATil  governments  may  be  a  terror  to  evil  doers  and 
a  praise  to  them  that  do  well ;  and  may  they  all  be  guided  and  admin 
istered  in  completest  harmony  with  the  principles  and  interests  of  the 
kingdom  of  Thy  dear  sou,  that  so  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  may 
speedily  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  His  Christ,  that  He 
may  reign  forever  and  ever. 

Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven,  Hallowed  be  thy  name.  Thy  king 
dom  come.  Thy  will  be  done  iu  earth  as  it  is  in  Heaven.  Give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread.  And  forgive  us  our  trespasses  as  we  forgive  them 
that  trespass  against  us.  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver 
us  from  evil :  For  Thine  is  the  kingdom  and  the  power  and  the  glory 
forever.  Amen. 


58  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

CENTENNIAL    HYMN. 

Words  by  CHARLES  POINDEXTER.    Music  by  J.  E.  SCIIMOLZER. 
(Rendered  by  the  chorus  of  voices  under  Professor  Seigel.) 

Our  fathers'  God,  who  on  these  plains 
Of  old  gave  victory  to  our  land, 
This  day  in  gracious  favor  deigns 
To  bless  the  labor  of  our  hand. 
To  Him  let  us  our  voices  raise, 
In  lofty  hymns  and  notes  of  praise 
Our  grateful  homage  pay. 

His  was  the  strength  that  nerved  their  heart 
In  faith  of  battle  for  the  right, 
He  did  the  wisdom  high  impart 
That  baffled  all  the  foeman's  might, 
And  gave  our  land  in  days  of  yore 
Deliv'rance  strong  from  trouble  sore 
Of  war  and  bitter  strife. 

Built  on  foundation  strong  and  deep 
The  starry  pointing  shaft  we  rear, 
The  form  of  mighty  deeds  to  keep 
And  tell  to  every  coming  year. 
So  let  us  in  our  hearts  upraise 
A  monument  of  those  brave  days 
Of  faith  and  victory. 

ADDRESS. 

By  His  Excellency  CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR,  President  of  the  United  States. 


ADDRESS    OF     THE    PRESIDENT. 

Upon  this  soil  one  hundred  years  ago  our  forefathers  brought  to  a  suc 
cessful  issue  their  heroic  struggle  for  independence.  Here  and  then 
was  established,  and  as  we  trust  in-ade  secure  upon  this  continent  for 
ages  yet  to  come,  that  principle  of  government  which  is  the  very  fiber 
of  our  political  system — the  sovereignty  of  the  people. 

The  resentments  which  attended  and  for  a  time  survived  the  clash  of 
arms  have  long  since  ceased  to  animate  our  hearts.  It  is  with  no  feeling 
of  exultation  over  a  defeated  foe  that  to-day  we  summon  up  a  remem 
brance  of  those  events  which  have  made  holy  the  gro  und  whereon  we  tread. 
Surely  no  such  unworthy  sentiment  could  find  harbor  in  our  hearts,  so 
profoundly  thrilled  with  expressions  of  sorrow  and  sympathy  which  our 
national  bereavement  has  evolved  from  the  people  of  England  and  their 
august  sovereign. 

But  it  is  altogether  fitting  that  we  should  gather  here  to  refresh  our 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  59 

souls  with  the  contemplation  of  the  unfaltering  patriotism,  the  sturdy 
zeal,  and  the  sublime  faith  which  achieved  the  results  we  now  commem 
orate.  For  so  if  we  learn  aright  the  lesson  of  the  hour,  shall  we  be 
incited  to  transmit  to  the  generations  which  shall  follow  the  precious 
legacy  which  our  fathers  left  to  us,  the  love  of  liberty  protected  by  law. 

Of  that  historic  scene  which  we  here  celebrate  no  feature  is  more 
prominent  and  none  more  touching  than  the  participation  of  our  gallant 
allies  from  across  the  seas.  It  was  their  noble  and  generous  aid,  ex 
tended  in  the  direst  period  of  the  struggle,  which  sped  the  coming  of 
our  triumph,  and  made  the  capitulation  of  Yorktown  possible  a  century 
ago.  To  their  descendants  and  representatives,  who  are  here  present 
as  the  honored  guests  of  the  nation,  it  is  my  glad  duty  to  offer  cordial 
welcome. 

You  have  a  right  to  share  with  us  the  associations  which  cluster  about 
the  day  when  your  fathers  fought  side  by  side  with  our  fathers  in  the 
cause  which  was  here  crowned  with  success ;  and  none  of  the  memories 
awakened  by  this  anniversary  are  more  grateful  to  us  all  than  the  re 
flection  that  the  national  friendships  here  so  closely  cemented  have  out 
lasted  the  mutations  of  a  changeful  century.  God  grant,  my  country 
men,  that  they  may  ever  remain  unshaken,  and  that  ever  henceforth, 
with  ourselves  and  with  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  we  may  be  at 
peace ! 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  address,  Hon.  John  W.  Johnston,  chairman 
of  the  Congressional  Commission,  conducted  the  President  to  the  chair 
as  presiding  officer  during  the  remaining  ceremonies  of  the  day. 


RESPONSES  BY  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  FRENCH  ANT> 

GERMAN  GUESTS. 

.    RESPONSE  OF  M.  MAXIME  OUTREY, 

ENVOY   EXTRAORDINARY  AND   MINISTER  PLENIPOTENTIARY   OF   FRANCE. 

The  French  Government  has  felt  much  touched  by  the  friendly  sen 
timents  which  inspired  the  United  States  with  the  thought  of  asking 
France  to  participate  in  the  celebration  of  the  Yorktown  Centennial,  and 
heartily  .desires  to  respond  in  a  manner  worthy  of  both  republics  to  the 
invitation  sent  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  behalf  of  the 
people  of  America.  The  manifestations  of  public  sympathy  following 
the  initiative  taken  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  bidding  France 
to  this  national  festival,  have  been  looked  upon  by  us  not  only  as  an 
act  of  the  highest  courtesy,  but  especially  as  a  mark  of  affectionate 
regard,  having  the  noble  aim  of  cementing  yet  more  closely  the  ties 
which  unite  the  two  republics. 


60  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

In  commemoration  of  this  day,  which  represents  one  of  the  grandest 
events  of  the  political  existence  of  this  country,  the  French  Government 
has  sent  a  mission  composed  of  special  delegates  from  different  depart 
ments,  and  the  President  of  the  French  Republic,  wishing  to  mark  his 
personal  sympathy,  has  sent  one  of  his  own  aids-de-camp.  They  thus 
desire  to  show  particularly  their  appreciation  of  the  graceful  compliment 
paid  to  our  country. 

Each  and  all  of  us  are  proud  of  having  been  called  to  the  honor  of 
representing  France  on  this  auspicious  day. 

The  monument  which  is  here  to  be  erected  will  not  only  recall  a  glori 
ous  victory;  it  will  perpetuate  the  recollections  of  an  ever-faithful  alli 
ance,  faithful  through  the  trials  and  vicissitudes  of  an  eventful  century; 
and,  as  the  President  of  the  French  Republic  has  so  truly  said,  it  will 
consecrate  the  union  sprung  from  generous  and  liberal  aspirations,  and 
which  the  institutions  we  now  boast  of  in  common  must  necessarily 
strengthen  and  develop  for  the  good  of  both  countries. 

In  coining  to  this  Yorktown  Centennial,  we  come  to  celebrate  the  day 
which  ended  that  long  and  bitter  struggle  against  a  great  nation,  now 
our  mutual  ally  and  friend,  who  here,  as  under  all  skies  where  her  flag 
has  floated,  has  left  ineffaceable  ma^rks  of  her  grand  spirit.  We  come 
to  celebrate  the  glorious  date  when  the  heroes  of  independence  were 
able  to  set  their  final  seal  to  the  solemn  proclamation  of  the  Fourth  of 
July,  177G. 

We  come  also  to  salute  the  dawn  of  that  era  of  prosperity  when, 
led  by  her  great  men,  America  permitted  the  intelligence  of  her  people 
to  soar  and  their  energy  to  manifest  itself,  and  thus  the  power  of  the 
United  States  lias  strengthened,  and  every  year  has  added  to  the  pres 
tige  which  surrounds  her  star-spangled  banner— when  France  brought 
from  beyond  the  seas  the  co-operation  of  her  army  and  of  her  navy 
to  this  valiant  people  engaged  in  a  war  for  its  independence.  When 
La  Fayette,  Rochambeau,  De  Grasse,  and  so  many  others  drew  in  their 
footsteps  the  young  and  brave  scions  of  our  most  illustrious  families, 
they  yielded  to  a  generous  impulse  and  came  with  disinterested  cour 
age  to  sustain  the  cause  of  liberty.  A  blessing  went  with  their  endeavors 
and  gave  success  to  their  arms ;  and  when  one  hundred  years  ago,  the 
French  and  the  Americans  grasped  each  others'  hands  at  Yorktown,  they 
realized  that  they  had  helped  to  lay  the  corner-stone  of  a  great  edifice. 

But  surely  the  most  far-sighted  among  those  men  would  have  startled 
had  he  been  able  to  look  down  the  long  vista  of  a  century,  and  see  at 
this  end  this  republic,  then  young  and  struggling  with  all  the  difficulties 
which  surrounded  her,  now  calm,  radiant,  and  beaming  with  her  halo 
of  prosperity. 

The  great  Washington  himself,  whose  genius  foresaw  the  destiny  of 
this  country,  could  not  have  predicted  this.  Truly  the  United  States 
have  made,  especially  in  these  latter  years,  gigantic  strides  along  the 
route  to  still  greater  progress  by  showing  to  the  world  what  can  be 
accomplished  by  an  energetic  and  intelligent  nation,  always  as  respect- 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  61 

ful  of  its  duties  as  jealous  of  its  rights.  America  has  given  a  great  ex 
ample,  and  has  been  a  cause  of  rejoicing  to  all  true  lovers  of  liberty. 

France  is  proud  of  having  contributed  to  found  this  great  republic, 
and  her  wishes  for  your  prosperity  are  deep  and  sincere.  Our  mutual 
friendship  is  founded  on  many  affinities  of  taste  and  aspirations  which 
time  cannot  destroy,  and  future  generations  I  trust  will  assist  again  in 
this  same  place  at  the  spectacle,  unprecedented  in  history,  of  two  great 
nations  renewing  from  century  to  century,  a  compact  of  fraternal  and 
imperishable  affection. 

I  will  not  close  without  thanking  the  Federal  Government,  the  differ 
ent  States  of  the  Union  of  which  the  delegation  have  been  the  guests, 
and  the  people  of  America  for  the  sympathy  and  welcome  extended  to 
the  representatives  of  France.  Each  of  us  will  treasure  the  recollection 
of  American  hospitality  and  of  the  friendly  sentiments  which  have  been 
manifested  to  us  in  every  place  and  in  every  sphere. 


[Translated.  ] 
RESPONSE  OF  THE  MARQUIS  DE  ROCHAMBEAU. 

CITIZENS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  :  You  have  invited  us  to  cele 
brate  with  you  the  great  achievement  of  arms,  and  we  did  not  hesitate 
to  brave  the  terrors  of  the  ocean  to  say  to  you  that  what  our  fathers 
and  brothers  did  in  1781,  we,  their  sons,  would  be  willing  to  do  to-day, 
and  to  attest  our  constant  friendship,  and  to  further  show  that  we  cher 
ish  the  same  sentiments  that  our  fathers  did  in  the  glorious  days  we 
celebrate.  In  the  name  of  my  companions  who  represent  here  the  men 
who  fought  in  1781,  permit  me  to  hope  that  the  attachment  formed  in 
those  days  around  this  monument  which  is  about  to  be  erected  will  be 
renewed  one  hundred  years  hence,  and  that  our  descendants  will  again 
celebrate  the  victory  which  joined  our  fathers  in  comradeship  and  alliance. 


[Translated.] 
RESPONSE  OF  COLONEL  VON  STEUBEN. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  In  the  words  of  welcome  to  your  foreign  guests 
which  you  have  just  uttered,  you  remembered  and  mentioned  in  kind 
terms  the  family  of  Yon  Steuben.  I  assure  you  that  as  soon  as  the 
tidings  of  our  hearty  enthusiastic  reception  in  this  country,  following 
the  friendly  invitation  to  us  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  were 
received  in  the  old  fatherland,  there  was  heartfelt  rejoicing  among  all 
classes  in  every  part  of  our  country.  It  was  a  new  and  striking  evi 
dence  of  the  common  sympathy  that  existed  between  the  American  and 
German  peoples.  It  proves,  too,  that  the  American  people,  which  thus 
appreciates  and  hastens  to  honor  the  great  dead,  stands  at  the  height  of 


62  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

civilization  and  culture.  Only  this  morning  I  received  a  cablegram 
from  my  country  with  hearty  congratulations  upon  this  happy  commem 
oration  day  so  important  in  the  history  of  the  United  States,  and  I  be 
lieve,  Mr.  President,  that  I  may  express  to  you  the  sincere  congratula 
tions  of  the  whole  German  people  and  of  the  German  Government  upon 
this  auspicious  day. 

Permit  me  also,  Mr.  President,  to  return  you,  for  all  our  Yon  Steuben 
family,  the  warmest  thanks  of  our  full  hearts — thanks  which  I  cannot 
adequately  express — for  the  boundless  hospitality  and  for  the  cordial 
greetings  which  we  have  met  on  every  hand  at  every  step  from  the  hour 
of  our  landing  until  you  crowned  the  whole  with  your  welcome  to  us  as 
representatives  of  our  great  kinsman.  1  can  only  say  to  you,  a^ain 
and  again,  We  thank  you. 


CENTENNIAL     ODE. 

Words  by  PAUL  H.  HAYNE,  of  South  Carolina;  music  by  J.  MOSENTHAI,,  rendered  by 
the  chorus  under  Professor  SEIGEL,  the  accompaniment  by  the  Marine  Band. 

I. 

Hark!  hark!  down  the  century's  long-reaching  slope, 

To  those  transports  of  triumph — those  raptures  of  hope! 

The  voices  of  Main  and  of  Mountain  combined, 

In  glad  resonance  borne  on  the  wings  of  the  wind ; 

The  bass  of  the  drum,  and  the  trumpet  that  thrills 

Through  the  multiplied  echoes  of  jubilant  hills! 

And  mark!  how  the  years,  melting  upward  like  mist, 

Which  the  breath  of  some  splendid  enchantment  has  kissed, 

Reveal  on  the  ocean,  reveal  on  the  shore, 

The  proud  pageant  of  conquest  that  graced  them  of  yore, 

-CHORUS—  Where  blended  forever  in  love  as  in  fame, 

See !  the  standard  which  stole  from  the  starlight  its  flame, 
And  type  of  all  chivalry,  glory,  romance, 
The  lilies,  the  luminous  lilies  of  France! 

II. 

O!  stubborn  the  strife  ere  the  conflict  was  won, 
And  the  wild- whirling  war-wrack  half  stifled  the  sun ; 
The  thunders  of  cannon  that  boomed  on  the  lea 
But  re-ecboed  far  thunders  pealed  up  from  the  sea — 
Where  guarding  his  sea-lists — a  knight  on  the  waves — 
Bold  De  Grasse  kept  at  bay  the  bluff  bull-dogs  of  Graves— 
t  The  day  turned  to  darkness,  the  night  changed  to  fire, 
Still  more  fierce  waxed  the  combat,  more  deadly  the  ire — 
Undimmed  by  the  gloom,  in  majestic  advance, 
Ah!  behold  where  they  ride,  o'er  the  red  battle-tide — 

CHORUS — Those  banners  united  in  love  as  in  fame— 

The  brave  standard  which  drew  from  the  starbeams  their  flame, 
And  type  of  all  chivalry,  glory,  romance, 
The  lilies,  the  luminous  lilies  of  France! 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  63 


III. 

No  respite!    No  pause!     By  the  York's  tortured  flood 
The  gray  Lion  of  England  is  writhing  in  blood! 
Coruwallis  may  chafe,  and  coarse  Tarleton  aver — 
As  ho  sharpens  his  broadsword  and  buckles  his  spur — 
"This  blade,  which  so  oft  has  reaped  rebels  like  grain, 
Shall  now  harvest,  for  death,  the  rude  yeomen  again." 
Vain  boast!  for  ere  sunset  he's  flying  in 'fear, 
With  the  rebels  he  scouted  close,  close  in  the  rear! 
The  French  on  his  flank  hurl  such  volleys  of  shot 
That  e'en  Gloucester's  redoubt  must  be  growing  too  hot. 

CHORUS — Thus  wedded  in  love,  as  united  in  fame, 

Lo!  the  standard  that  stole  from  the  starlight  its  flame — 
And  type  of  all  chivalry,  glory,  romance, 
The  lilies,  the  luminous  lilies  of  France! 


IV. 

O!  morning  superb!  when  the  siege  reached  its  close! 

See!  the  sundawn  outbloom  like  the  alchemist's  rose! 

The  last  wreaths  of  smoke  from  dim  trenches  upcurled 

Are  transformed  to  a  glory  that  smiles  on  the  world. 

Joy!  Joy!     Save  the  wan,  wasted  front  of  the  foe, 

With  his  battle-flags  furled  and  his  arms  trailing  low, 

Respect  for  the  brave!     In  grim  silence  they  yield, 

And  in  silence  they  pass  with  bowed  heads  from  the  field. 

Then  triumph  transcendent!     So  Titan  of  tone 

That  some  vowed  it  must  startle  King  George  on  his  throne! 

CHORUS — O!  wedded  in  love,  as  united  in  fame, 

See!  the  standard  that  stole  from  the  starlight  its  flame — 
•And  type  of  all  chivalry,  glory,  romance, 
The  lilies,  the  luminous  lilies  of  France! 


V. 

When  Peace  to  her  own  timed  the  pulse  of  the  land, 
And  the  war-weapon,  sunk  from  the  war-wearied  hand, 
Young  Freedom,  upborne  to  the  height  of  the  goal — 
She  had  yearned  for  so  long  with  deep  travail  of  soul — 
A  song  of  her  future  raised,  thrilling  and  clear, 
Till  the  woods  leaned  to  hearken,  the  hill-slopes  to  hear! 
Yet,  fraught  with  all  magical  grandeurs  that  gleam, 
On  the  hero's  high  hope,  or  the  patriot's  dream, 
What  Future,  tho'  bright,  in  cold  shadow  shall  cast 
The  stern  beauty  that  haloes  the  brow  of  the  Past  I 

•CHORUS— O !  wedded  in  love,  as  united  in  fame ! 

See !  the  standard  that  stole  from  the  starlight  its  flame, 
And  type  of  all  chivalry,  glory,  romance, 
The  lilies,  the  luminous  lilies  of  France! 


64  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

INTRODUCTION   OF   THE   ORATOR,   HON.   ROBERT   C.   WINTHROP. 

Hoii.  John  W.  Johnston,  chairman  of  the  Commission,  then  presented 
the  Hon.  Eobert  C.  Winthrop,  saying  : 

Mr.  CHAIRMAN  :  I  have  the  honor  and  pleasure  of  introducing  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  his  Cabinet,  to  our  guests  from 
across  the  ocean,  and  to  the  vast  multitude  of  American  citizens  here 
assembled,  the  distinguished  gentleman  chosen  to  deliver  the  address 
on  this  occasion,  the  Hon.  EGBERT  C.  WINTHROP,  of  Massachusetts. 


CENTEX:NIA;L   ORATION   AT  YORKTOWJST,  VIRGINIA, 
19TH  OCTOBER,  1881. 

BY  ROBERT  C.  WINTHROP. 

INVITATION  AND  ANSWER. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  December  16,  1880. 

SIR  :  Provision  has  been  made  by  an  act  of  Congress  for  a  Centennial  Celebration 
of  the  Surrender  of  Lord  Comwallis  at  Yorktown— the  ceremonies  to  take  place  on  the 
19th  of  October,  1881.  The  national  importance  of  the  great  event  which  closed  the 
War  for  American  Independence  calls  for  a  tribute  to  the  devotion  of  our  fathers,  and 
the  imposing  civil  fabric  which  they  reared,  from  one  of  their  accomplished  sons ; 
and  we  respectfully  invite  you  to  deliver  the  oration  on  that  occasion,  and  assure 
you  that  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  whom  we  represent,  and  in  whose  halls  you  have 
performed  a  brilliant  and  honorable  service,  will  consider  your  acceptance  of  this  in 
vitation  a  distinguished  favor  to  themselves  and  to  the  country. 

With  sentiments  of  the  highest  respect,  your  obedient  servants, 

GEO.  B.  LORING, 
FRANCIS  KERNAN, 
JOHN  GOODE, 
E.  H.  ROLLINS, 
H.  B.  ANTHONY. 
Committee  on  Oration  and  Poem. 
Hon.  ROBERT  C.  WINTHROP,  Boston,  Mass. 

BOSTON,  MASS.,  December  22,  1880. 

GENTLEMEN  :  Your  obliging  communication  of  the  16th  inst.  reached  me  a.  few 
days  ago.  I  am  deeply  conscious  of  my  own  insufficiency  for  meeting  so  great  an 
occasion  as  you  propose  to  me.  But  such  an  invitation,  for  such  a  service,  and  from 
such  a  source,  cannot  be  declined. 

Coming  from  the  Capitol,  and  communicated  by  a  committee  of  the  two  Houses  of 
Congress,  it  has  the  force  of  a  command,  and  I  dare  not  disobey  it. 

I  shall  therefore  hold  myself  at  the  disposition  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements 
on  the  19th  of  October  next,  at  Yorktown,  Virginia,  God  willing. 

Believe  me,  gentlemen,  with  a  grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  complimentary 
terms  of  your  letter, 

Very  faithfully  and  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT  C.  WINTHROP. 
Hon.  GEORGE  B.  LORING,  FRANCIS  KERNAN, 

JOHN  GOODE,  E.  H.  ROLLINS,  H.  B.  ANTHONY, 

Committee  of  United  States  Congress. 


YORKTOWN    OKLEHRATION.  65 


ORATION. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES: 
I  am  profoundly  sensible  of  the  honor  of  being  called  to  take  so  dis 
tinguished  a  part  in  this  great  Commemoration,  and  most  deeply  grate 
ful  to  those  who  have  thought  me  worthy  of  such  an  honor.  But  it 
was  no  affectation  when,  in  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  Joint  Com 
mittee  of  Congress,  I  replied  that  I  was  sincerely  conscious  of  my  own 
insufficiency  for  so  high  a  service.  And  if  I  felr,  as  I  could  not  fail  to 
feel,  a  painful  sense  of  inadequacy  at  that  moment,  when  the  service 
was  still  a  great  way  off,  how  much  more  must  I  be  oppressed  and 
overwhelmed  by  it  now,  in  the  immediate  presence  of  the  occasion ! 
As  I  look  back  to  the  men  with  whom  I  have  been  associated  in  my 
own  Commonwealth— Choate,  Everett,  Webster,  to  name  no  others — I 
may  well  feel  that  I  am  here  only  by  the  accident  of  survival. 

But  I  cannot  forget  that  I  stand  on  the  soil  of  Virginia — a  State 
which,  of  all  others  in  our  Union,  has  never  needed  to  borrow  an 
orator  tor  any  occasion,  however  important  or  exacting.  Her  George 
Mason  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  her  James  Madison  and  John  Marshall, 
were  destined,  it  is  true,  to  render  themselves  immortal  by  their  pens, 
rather  than  by  their  tongues.  The  pens  which  drafted  the  Virginia 
Bill  of  Eights,  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence,  and  so 
much  of  the  text,  the  history,  the  vindication,  and  the  true  construc 
tion  of  the  American  Constitution,  need  fear  comparison  with  none 
which  have  ever  been  the  implements  of  human  thought  and  language. 
But  from  her  peerless  Patrick  Henry,  through  the  long  succession  of 
statesmen  and  patriots  who  have  illustrated  her  annals,  down  to  the 
recent  day  of  her  Rives,  her  McDowell,  and  her  Grigsby — all  of  whom 
I  have  been  privileged  to  count  among  my  personal  friends — Virginia 
has  had  orators  enough  for  every  emergency,  at  the  Capitol  or  at  home. 
She  has  them  still.  And  yet  I  hazard  nothing  in  saying  that  the  fore 
most  of  them  all  would  have  agreed  with  me,  at  this  hour,  that  the 
theme  and  the  theater  are  above  the  reach  of  the  highest  art;  and 
would  be  heard  exclaiming  with  me,  in  the  words  of  a  great  Roman 
poet,  "  Unde  ingenium  par  material"  whence,  whence  shall  come  a 
faculty  equal  to  the  subject  ?  For  myself,  I  turn  humbly  and  rev 
erently  to  the  only  Source  from  which  such  inspiration  can  be  invoked ! 

Certainly,  fellow-citizens,  had  I  felt  at  liberty  to  regard*  the  invita 
tion  as  any  mere  personal  compliment,  supremely  as  I  should  have 
prized  it,  I  might  have  hesitated  about  accepting  it  much  longer  than 
I  did  hesitate.  But  when  I  reflected  on  it  as  at  least  including  a  com 
pliment  to  the  old  Commonwealth  of  which  I  am  a  loyal  son — when  I 
reflected  that  my  performance  of  such  a  service  might  help,  in  ever  so 
slight  a  degree,  to  bring  back  Virginia  and  Massachusetts,  even  for  a 
S.  Rep.  1003 5 


66  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

day — would  that  it  might  be  forever !— into  those  old  relations  of  mu 
tual  amity  and  good  nature  and  affection  which  existed  in  the  days  of 
our  Fathers,  and  without  which  there  could  have  been  no  surrender 
here  at  York  town  to  be  commemorated — no  Union,  no  Independence, 
no  Constitution — I  could  not  find  it  in  my  heart  for  an  instant  to  de 
cline  the  call.  Never,  never  could  I  shrink  from  any  service,  however 
arduous,  or  however  perilous  to  my  own  reputation,  which  might  haply 
add  a  single  new  link,  or  even  strengthen  and  brighten  an  old  link,  in 
that  chain  of  love,  which  it  has  been  the  prayer  of  my  life  might  bind 
together  in  peace  and  good  will,  in  all  time  to  come,  not  only  New 
England  and  the  Old  Dominion,  but  the  whole  North  and  the  whole 
South,  for  the  best  welfare  of  our  common  Country,  and  for  the  best 
interests  of  Liberty  throughout  the  world  ! 

Not  the  less,  however,  have  I  come  here  to  day  in  faint  hope  of 
being  able  to  meet  the  expectations  and  demands  of  the  occasion.  For, 
indeed,  there  are  occasions  which  no  man  can  fully  meet,  either  to  the 
satisfaction  of  others  or  of  himself— occasions  which  seem  to  scorn  and 
defy  all  utterance  of  human  lips,  whose  complicated  emotions  and  inci 
dents  cannot  be  compressed  within  the  little  compass  of  a  discourse ; 
whose  far-reaching  relations  and  world- wide  influences  refuse  to  be  nar 
rowed  and  condensed  into  any  formal  sentences  or  paragraphs  or  pages ; 
occasions  when  the  booming  cannon,  the  rolling  drum,  the  swelling 
trumpet,  the  cheers  of  multitudes,  and  the  solemn  Te  Deums  of  churches 
and  cathedrals,  afford  the  only  adequate  expression  of  the  feelings, 
which  their  mere  contemplation,  even  at  the  end  of  a  century,  cannot 
fail  to  kindle. 

Yet,  if  it  be  not  in  me,  at  an  age  which  might  fairly  have  exempted 
me  altogether  from  such  an  effort,  to  do  full  justice  to  the  grand  assem 
bly  and  the  grander  topics  before  me,  it  certainly  is  in  me,  ray  friends, 
to  breathe  out  from  a  full  heart  the  congratulations  which  belong  to 
this  hour ;  to  recall  briefly  some  of  the  momentous  incidents  we  are 
here  to  commemorate  ;  to  sketch  rapidly  some  of  the  great  scenes  which 
gave  such  imperishable  glory  to  yonder  bay  and  river,  and  their  historic 
banks;  to  name  with  honor  a  few,  at  least,  of  the  illustrious  men  con 
nected  with  those  scenes,  and,  above  all  and  before  all,  to  give  some 
feeble  voice  to  the  gratitude  which  must  swell  and  fill  and  overflow 
every  American  breast  to:day  towards  that  generous  and  gallant  nation 
across  the  sea,  represented  here  at  this  moment  by  so  many  distin 
guished  sons  of  so  many  endeared  and  illustrious  names,  which  helped 
us  so  signally  and  so  decisively  at  the  most  critical  point  of  our  strug 
gle,  in  vindicating  our  rights  and  liberties,  and  in  achieving  our  national 
Independence. 

Yes,  it  is  mine,  and  somewhat  peculiarly  mine,  perhaps,  notwith 
standing  the  presence  of  the  official  representatives  of  my  native  State, 
to  bear  the  greetings  of  Plymouth  Kock  to  Jamestown  ;  of  Bunker  Hill 
to  York  town  j  of  Boston,  recovered  from  the  British  forces  in  '70,  to 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  67 

Mount  Vernon,  the  home  in  life  and  death  of  her  illustrious  deliverer; 
and  there  is  no  office  within  the  gift  of  Congresses,  Presidents,  or  Peo 
ple,  which  I  could  discharge  more  cordially  and  fervently.  And  may  I 
not  hope,  as  one  who  is  proud  to  feel  coursing  in  his  veins  the  Huguenot 
blood  of  a  Massachusetts  patriot  who  enjoyed  the  most  affectionate  re 
lations  with  the  young  La  Fayette  when  he  first  led  the  way  to  our  assist 
ance  ;  as  one,  too,  who  has  personally  felt  the  warm  pressure  of  his  own 
hand  and  received  a  benediction  from  his  own  lips,  under  a  father  and  a 
mother's  roof,  nearly  threescore  years  ago,  when  he  was  the  guest  of 
the  nation  ;  and,  let  me  add,  as  an  old  presiding  officer  in  that  repre 
sentative  chamber  at  the  Capitol,  where,  side  by  side  with  that  of 
Washington,  its  only  fit  companion-piece,  the  admirable  full-length  por 
trait  of  the  Marquis,  the  work  and  the  gift  of  his  friend  Ary  Scheffer, 
was  so  long  a  daily  and  hourly  feast  for  my  eyes  and  inspiration  for  my 
efforts — may  I  not  hope  that  I  shall  not  be  regarded  as  a  wholly  unfit 
or  inappropriate  organ  of  that  profound  sense  of  obligation  and  indebt 
edness  to  La  Fayette,  to  Eochambeau,  to  De  Grasse,and  to  France,  which 
is  felt  and  cherished  by  us  all  at  this  hour  ? 

For,  indeed,  fellow-citizens,  our  earliest  and  our  latest  acknowledg 
ments  are  due  this  day  to  France,  for  the  inestimable  services  which 
gave  us  the  crowning  victory  of  the  19th  of  October,  1781.  It  matters 
not  for  us  to  speculate  now  whether  American  Independence  might  not 
have  been  ultimately  achieved  without  her  aid.  It  matters  not  for  us 
to  calculate  or  conjecture  how  soon,  or  when,  or  under  what  circum 
stances  that  grand  result  might  have  been  accomplished.  We  all  know 
that,  God  willing,  sucn  a  consummation  was  as  certain  in  the  end  as 
to-morrow's  sunrise,  and  that  no  earthly  potentates  or  powers,  single  or 
conjoined,  could  have  carried  us  back  into  a  permanent  condition  of 
colonial  dependence  and  subjugation.  From  the  first  blood  shed  at 
Lexington  and  Concord,  from  the  first  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  Great 
Britain  had  lost  her  American  Colonies,  and  their  established  and  rec 
ognized  independence  was  only  a  question  of  time.  Even  the  surrender 
of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga  in  1777,  the  only  American  battle  included  by 
Sir  Edward  Creasy  in  his  "  Fifteen  Decisive  Battles  of  the  World,"  of 
which  he  says  that  "no  military  event  can  be  said  to  have  exercised 
a  more  important  influence  on  the  future  fortunes  of  mankind,"  and  of 
which  the  late  Lord  Stanhope  had  said  that  this  surrender  "had  not 
merely  changed  the  relation  of  England  and  the  feelings  of  Europe  to 
wards  these  insurgent  colonies,  but  had  modified,  for  all  times  to  come, 
the  connection  between  every  Colony,  and  every  parent  State" — even 
this  most  memorable  surrender  gave  only  a  new  assurance  of  a  foregone 
conclusion,  only  hastened  the  march  of  events  to  a  predestined  issue. 
That  march  for  us  was  to  be  ever  onward  until  the  goal  was  reached. 
However  slow  or  difficult  it  might  prove  to  be,  at  one  time  or  at  another 
time,  the  motto  and  the  spirit  of  John  Hampden  were  in  the  minds,  and 
hearts,  and  wills  of  all  our  American  patriots — "  Nulla  vestigia  retror- 
suin  " — no  footsteps  backward. 


f)X  YORKTOVVN    CELEBRATION. 

Nor  need  we  be  too  curious  to  inquire  to-daj'  into  any  special  induce 
ments  which  France  may  have  had  to  intervene  thus  nobly  in  our  behalf, 
or  into  any  special  influences  under  which  her  King,  and  Court,  and 
People,  resolved  at  last  to  undertake  the  intervention.  We  may  not 
forget,  indeed,  that  our  own  Franklin,  the  great  Bostonian.  had  long 
been  one  of  the  American  Commissioners  in  Paris,  and  that  the  fame 
of  his  genius,  the  skill  and  adroitness  of  his  negotiations,  and  the  mag 
netism  of  his  personal  character  and  presence  were  no  secondary  or  sub 
ordinate  elements  in  the  results  which  were  accomplished.  As  was 
well  said  of  him  by  a  French  historian,  "  His  virtues  and  his  renown  nego 
tiated  for  him;  and,  before  the  second  year  of  his  mission  had  expired, 
no  one  conceived  it  possible  to  refuse  fleets  and  an  army  to  the  com 
patriots  of  Franklin."  The  Treaty  of  Commerce  and  the  Treaty  of  Al 
liance  were  both  eminently  Franklin's  work,  and  both  were  signed  by 
him  as  early  as  the  Cth  of  February,  1778.  His  name  and  his  services 
are  thus  never  to  be  omitted  or  overlooked  in  connection  with  the  great 
debt  which  we  owe  to  France,  and  which  we  so  gratefully  commemorate 
on  this  occasion. 

But  signal  as  his  services  were,  Franklin  cannot  be  named  as  stand 
ing  first  in  this  connection.  Nearly  two  years  before  his  treaties  were 
negotiated  and  signed,  a  step  had  been  taken  by  another  than  Frank 
lin,  which  led,  directly  and  indirectly,  to  all  that  followed.  The  young 
LA.  FAYETTE,  then  but  nineteen  years  of  age,  a  captain  of  the  French 
dragoons,  stationed  at  Metz,  at  a  dinner  given  by  the  commandant  of 
the  garrison  to  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  a-  brother  of  George  III,  Imp. 
pened  to  hear  the  tidings  of  our  Declaration  of  Independence,  which 
had  reached  the  Duke  that  very  morning  from  London.  It  formed  the 
subject  of  animated  and  excited  conversation,  in  which  the  enthusiastic 
young  soldier  took  part.  And  before  he  had  left  the  table,  an  inex 
tinguishable  spark  had  been  struck  and  kindled  in  his  breast,  and  his 
whole  heart  was  on  fire  in  the  cause  of  American  liberty.  Regardless  of 
the  remonstrances  of  his  friends,  of  the  Ministry,  and  of  the  King  him 
self,  in  spite  of  every  discouragement  and  obstacle,  he  soon  tears  him 
self  away  from  a  young  and  lovely  wife,  leaps  on  board  a  vessel  which 
he  had  provided  for  himself,  braves  the  perils  of  a  voyage  across  the 
Atlantic,  then  swarming  with  cruisers,  reaches  Philadelphia  by  way  of 
Charleston.  South  Carolina,  and  so  wins  at  once  the  regard  and  confi 
dence  of  the  Continental  Congress,  by  his  avowed  desire  to  risk  his  life 
in  our  service,  at  his  owrn  expense,  without  pay  or  allowance  of  any 
sort,  that  on  the  31st  of  July,  1777,  before  he  was  yet  quite  twenty 
years  of  age,  he  wras  commissioned  a  Major-General  of  the  Army  of  the 
United  States. 

It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  from  that  dinner  at  Metz  and  that 
31st  day  of  July  in  Philadelphia,  may  be  dated  the  train  of  influences 
and  events  which  culminated,  four  .years  afterwards,  in  the  surrender 
of  Cornwallis  to  the  Allied  Forces  of  America  and  France.  Presented 


YOKKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  b^ 

to  our  great  Virginian  Commander-in-chief  a  few  clays  only  after  his 
commission  was  voted  by  Congress,  an  intimacy,  a  friendship,  an  affec 
tion  grew  up  between  them  almost  at  sight,  which  might  well-nigh 
recall  the  classical  loves  of  Achilles  and  Patroclns,  or  of  ./Eneas  and 
Achates.  Invited  to  become  a  member  of  his  military  family,  and  treated 
with  the  tenderness  of  a  son,  La  Fayette  is  henceforth  to  be  not  only 
the  beloved  and  trusted  associate  of  Washington,  but  a  living  tie  be- 
hveen  his  native  and  his  almost  adopted  country.  Returning  to  France 
in  January,  1779,  after  eighteen  months  of  brave  and  valuable  service 
here,  during  which  he  had  been  wounded  at  Brandy  wine,  had  exhib 
ited  signal  gallantry  and  s.kill  while  an  indignant  witness  of  Charles 
Lee's  disgraceful,  if  not  trea'cherous,  misconduct  an  Mon mouth,  and 
had  received  the  thanks  of  Congress  for  important  services  in  Rhode 
Island,  he  was  now  in  the  way  of  appealing  personally  to  the  French 
Ministry  to  send  an  army  and  a  fleet  to  our  assistance.  Hedid appeal ; 
and  the  zeal  and  force  of  his  arguments  at  length  prevailed.  Beau- 
marchais  had  already  done  something  for  us  in  the  way  of  money;  and 
the  amiable  and  well-meaning  Count  d'Estaing,  at  one  time  a  protege 
of  Voltaire,  had,  indeed,  already  made  efforts  in  our  behalf  with  twelve 
ships  of  the  line  and  three  frigates.  Poor  Marie  Antoinette  must  not 
beforgotten  as  having  prompted  and  procured  that  assistance.  d'Estaing, 
however,  owing  in  part  to  the  want  of  wise  counsel  and  co-operation, 
had  accomplished  little  or  nothing  for  us,  and  had  left  our  shores  to 
die  at  last  by  the  guillotine.  But  now,  by  the  advice  and  persuasion 
of  La  Fayette,  the  army  of  Rochambeau,  and  afterwards  the  powerful 
fleet  of  the  Count  de  Grasse,  are  to  be  sent  over  to  join  us;  and  the 
young  Marquis,  to  whom  alone  the  decision  of  the  King  was  first  com 
municated  as  a  state  secret,  hastens  back  with  eager  joy  to  announce 
the  glad  tidings  to  Washington,  and  to  arrange  with  him  for  the  reception 
and  employment  of  the  auxiliary  forces. 

Accordingly,  on  the  10th  of  July,  1780,  a  squadron  of  ten  ships  of 
war,  under  the  unfortunate  Admiral  de  Ternay,  brings  Rochambeau 
with  six  thousand  French  troops  into  the  harbor  of  Newport,  with  in 
structions  "to  act  under  Washington  and  live  with  the  Americans  as 
their  brethren ;  "  and  the  American  officers  are  forthwith  desired  by 
Washington,  in  general  orders,  "  to  wear  white  and  black  cockades  as 
a  symbol  of  affection  for  their  Allies." 

Xearly  a  full  year,  however,  was  to  elapse  before  the  rich  fruits  of 
that  alliance  were  to  be  developed — a  year  of  the  greatest  discourage 
ment  and  gloom  for  the  American  cause.  The  gallant  but  vainglorious 
Gates,  whose  head  had  been  turned  by  his  success  at  Saratoga,  had 
now  failed  disastrously  at  Camden;  and  Cornwallis,  elated  by  having 
vanquished  the  conqueror  of  Burgoyne,  was  instituting  a  campaign  of 
terror  in  the  Carolinas,  with  Tarleton  and  the  young  Lord  Rawdon  as 
the  ministers  of  his  rigorous  severities,  and  was  counting  confidently  on 
the  speedy  reduction  of  all  the  Southern  Colonies.  Our  siege  of  Sa- 


70  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

vannah  had  failed  to  recover  it  from  the  British.  Charleston,  too,  had 
been  forced  to  capitulate  to  Clinton.  Not  the  steady  conduct  and  cour 
age  of  Lincoln  ;  not  the  resolute  endurance  and  and  heroism  of  Greene, 
the  great  commander  of  the  Southern  Department;  not  the  skillful 
strategy  of  La  Fayette  himself  in  foiling  Cornwallis  at  so  many  turns 
and  leading  him  into  countless  perplexities  and  pitfalls ;  not  all  the 
chivalry  of  Sumter  and  Marion  and  Pickens ;  not  the  noble  and  gener 
ous  example  of  his  own  Virginia,  exposing  and  almost  sacrificing  herself 
for  the  relief  and  rescue  of  her.  Southern  sisters ;  not  even  our  well-won 
victories  at  King's  Mountain  under  Campbell  and  Shelby,  and  at  the 
Cowpens  under  the  glorious  Morgan,  could  keep  Washington  from 
being  disheartened  and  despondent  in  looking  for  any  early  termination 
of  the  cares  and  responsibilities  which  weighed  upon  him  so  heavily. 

The  war  on  our  side  seemed  languishing.  The  sinews  of  war  were 
slowly  and  insufficiently  supplied.  All  the  untiring  energy  and  practi 
cal  wisdom  and  patriotic  self-sacrifice  of  Robert  Morris,  the  great  Finan 
cier  of  the  Revolution,  without  whom  the  campaign  of  1781  could  not 
have  been  carried  along,  hardly  sufficed  to  keep  our  soldiers  in  food  and 
clothing.  Discontents  were  gathering  and  growing  in  the  Army,  and 
even  its  entire  dissolution  began  to  be  seriously  apprehended.  A  pro 
vision  that  all  enlistments  should  be  made  to  the  end  of  the  war,  and 
entitling  allofficers,  who  should  continue  in  service  to  that  time,  to  half- 
pay  for  life,  did  much,  for  the  moment,  to  reanimate  the  recruiting  sys 
tem  and  give  new  spirits  and  confidence  to  the  officers.  But  it  was 
soon  found  that,  in  many  of  the  States,  enlistments  could  only  be  ef 
fected  for  short  terms  ;  while  the  half-pay  for  life  was  rendered  odious 
to  the  people,  and,  before  the  war  was  over,  had  become  the  subject  of 
a  commutation,  which  to  this  hour  has  been  but  partially  fulfilled,  and 
which  calls  loudly,  even  amid  these  Centennial  rejoicings,  for  equitable 
consideration  and  adjustment.  The  Confederation  which  was  to  unite 
the  strength,  wealth,  and  wisdom  of  all  the  Colonies  uin  a  perpetual 
Union,"  which  had  been  signed  by  so  many  of  them  three  years  before, 
and  which  now,  on  the  1st  of  March,  1781,  has  just  received  the  tardy 
signature  of  the  last  of  them,  is  but  miserably  fulfilling  its  promise. 
Arsenals  and  magazines,  field  equipage  and  means  of  transportation, 
and,  above  all,  both  men  and  money,  are  lamentably  wanting  for  any 
vigorous  offensive  campaign.  u  Scarce  any  one  of  the  States,"  says 
Bancroft,  u  had  as  yet  sent  an  eighth  part  of  its  quota  into  the  field," 
and  there  was  no  power  in  the  Confederate  Congress  to  enforce  its 
requisitions.  In  vain  did  the  young  Alexander  Hamilton,  at  only  twen 
ty-three  years  of  age,  with  a  precocity  which  has  no  parallel  but  that 
of  the  younger  Pitt,  pour  out  lessons  of  political  and  financial  wisdom 
from  the  camp,  in  which  he  is  soon  to  display  such  conspicuous  valor, 
arraigning  the  Confederation  as  "  neither  fit  for  war  nor  peace."  In 
vain  had  Washington  written  to  George  Mason,  not  long  before,  "Un 
less  there  be  a  material  change  both  in  our  civil  and  military  policy,  it 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  71 

will  be  useless  to  contend  much  longer,"  following  that  letter  with  an 
other,  as  late  as  the  9th  of  April,  1781,  to  Colonel  John  Laurens,  who 
had  gone  on  a  special  mission  to  Paris,  in  which  he  gave  this  most  ex 
plicit  warning:  "If  France  delays  a  timely  and  powerful  aid  in  the 
critical  posture  of  our  affairs,  it  will  avail  us  nothing  should  she  attempt 
it  hereafter.  We  are  at  this  hour  suspended  in  the  balance.  .  .  We 
cannot  transport  the  provisions  from  the  States  in  which  they  are  as 
sessed  to  the  army,  because  we  cannot  pay  the  teamsters,  who  will  no 
longer  work  for  certificates.  Our  troops  are  approaching  fast  to  naked 
ness,  and  we  have  nothing  to  clothe  them  with.  Our  hospitals  are 
without  medicine,  and  our  sick  without  meat,  except  such  as  well  men 
eat.  All  our  public  works  are  at  a  stand,  and  the  artificers  disbanding. 
In  a  word,  we  are  at  the  end  of  our  tether,  and  now  or  never  our  de 
liverance  must  come." 

God's  holy  name  be  praised,  deliverance  was  to  come  and  did  come, 
now ! 

Any  material  change  in  our  civil  policy  was,  indeed,  to  await  the 
action  of  civil  rulers;  but  Washington,  himself  and  alone,  could  happily 
control  our  military  policy.  And  he  did  control  it.  Within  forty  days 
from  the  date  of  that  emphatic  letter  to  Laurens,  on  the  18th  of 
May,  1781,  Rochambeau,  with  the  Marquis  de  Chastellux,  leaves  New 
port  for  Wethersfield,  in  Connecticut,  to  hold  a  conference  with  Wash 
ington  at  his  call.  On  the  6th  of  July,  the  union  of  the  French  troops 
with  the  American  army  is  completely  accomplished  at  Phillipsburg,  ten 
miles  only  from  the  most  advanced  post  of  the  British  in  New  York, 
the  two  armies  united  making  an  effective  force  of  at  least  ten  thousand 
men.  On  the  8th,  Washington  has  a  review  of  honor  of  the  French 
troops,  Rochambeau  having  reviewed  the  American  troops  on  the  7th. 
On  the  19th  of  August,  the  united  armies  commence  their  inarch  from 
Phillipsburg,  and  reach  Philadelphia  on  the  3d  of  September,  where, 
Congress  being  in  session,  the  French  army,  as  we  are  told  in  the  journal 
of  the  gallant  Count  William  de  Deux-Pouts,  "paid  it  the  honors  which 
the  King  had  ordered  us  to  pay."  And  in  that  journal,  so  curiously 
rescued  from  a  Paris  bookstall  on  one  of  the  Quais,  in  1867,*  the  Count 
most  humorously  adds:  "The  thirteen  members  of  Congress  took  off 
their  thirteen  hats  at  each  salute  of  the  flags  and  of  the  officers ;  and 
that  is  all  I  have  seen  that  was  respectful  or  remarkable."  Well,  that 
was  surely  enough.  What  more  could  they  have  done?  Virginia  her 
self,  even  in  her  earlier,  I  will  not  presume  to  say  her  better,  days  of  the 
strictest  construction,  could  not  have  desired  or  conceived  a  more  sig 
nificant  and  signal  homage  to  the  doctrine  of  State's  Rights,  than  those 
thirteen  hats  so  ludicrously  lifted  together  at  the  successive  salutes  of 
each  French  officer  and  each  French  Hag ! 

Thus  far  the  destination  of  the  Allied  Armies  was  a  secret  even  to 
themselves.  Certainly,  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  the  British  commander-m- 
*  By  Dr.  Samuel  A..  Green,  of  Boston. 


72  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

chief  at  New  York,  was  carefully  kept  in  ignorance  of  Washington's 
plans,  and  was  even  made  to  believe  that  on  himself  the  double  bolt  was' 
to  fall.  He  was,  indeed,  so  sorely  outwitted  and  perplexed  that  he  is 
found  at  one  moment  sending  urgent  orders  to  Comwallis  for  large  de 
tachments  of  his  Southern  army  ;  at  another  moment,  promising  to  send 
substantial  re-enforcements  to  him  ;  and  at  last,  making  up  his  mind,  too 
late,  to  join  Cornwallis  in  person,  with  as  little  delay  as  possible.  Mean 
time,  in  the  hope  of  creating  a  diversion,  he  despatches  the  infamous 
Arnold,  whose  treason  had  shocked  the  moral  sense  of  mankind  less  than 
a  year  before,  of  whom  Washington  is  at  this  moment  writing  "that  the 
world  is  disappointed  at  not  seeing  him  in  gibbets,"  and  who  had  just 
been  recalled  from  an  expedition  in  this  very  region,  where  he  had 
burned  and  pillaged  whatever  he  could  lay  his  hands  on,  or  set  his  torch 
to,  along  yonder  James  Eiver,  to  prosecute  his  nefarious  exploits  at 
the  North,  and  strike  a  paricidal  blow  upon  his  native  State.  Poor 
New  London  and  the  heroic  Ledyard  are  now  to  pay  the  penalty  of 
withstanding  the  audacious  traitor,  by  the  burning  of  their  town  and 
the  brutal  massacre  of  the  garrison  and  its  commander. 

But  no  diversion  or  interruption  of  Washington's  plans  could  be 
effcted  in  that  way  or  in  any  other  way;  and  at  length  those  plans  are 
divulged  and  executed  under  circumstances  which  give  assurance  of 
success,  and  which  cannot  be  recalled,  even  at  this  late  day,  without  an 
irrepressible  thrill  of  delight  and  gratitude. 

Felix  ille  dies,  felix  et  dicitur  anuus, 
Felices,  qui  talem  annum  videre,  diemque! 

Leaving  Philadelphia,  with  the  Army,  on  the  5th  of  September,  WTash- 
ington  meets  an  express  nearChester,  announcing  the  arrival,  in  Chesa 
peake  Bay,  of  the  Count  de  Grasse,  with  a  fleet  of  twenty-eight  ships 
of  the  line,  and  with  three  thousand  five  hundred  additional  French 
troops,  under  the  command  of  the  Marquis  de  St.  Simon,  who  had 
already  been  landed  at  Jamestown,  with  orders  to  join- the  Marquis  de 
La  Fayette! 

"  The  joy,"  says  the  Count  William  de  Deux-Ponts  in  his  precious 
journal,  "  the  joy  which  this  welcome  news  produces  among  all  the 
troops,  and  which  penetrates  General  Washington  and  the  Count  de 
Bochambeau,  is  more  easy  to  feel  than  to  express."  But,  in  a  foot-note 
to  that  passage,  he  does  express  and  describe  it,  in  terms  which  cannot 
be  spared  and  could  not  be  surpassed,  and  which  add  a  new  and  charm 
ing  illustration  of  the  emotional  side  of  Washington's  nature.  a  I  have 
been  equally  surprised  and  touched,"  says  the  gallant  Deux-Ponts, u  at 
the  true  and  pure  joy  of  General  Washington.  Of  a  natural  coldness 
and  of  a  serious  and  noble  approach,  which  in  him  is  only  true  dignity, 
and  which  adorn  so  well  the  chief  of  a  whole  nation,  his  features,  his 
physiognomy,  his  deportment,  all  were  changed  in  an  instant.  He  put 
aside  his  character  as  arbiter  of  North  America,  and  contented  himself 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  73 

for  a  moment  with  that  of  a  citizen,  happy  at  the  good  fortune  of  his 
country.  A  child,  whose  every  wish  had  been  gratified,  would  not 
have  experienced  a  sensation  more  lively,  and  I  believe  I  am  doing 
honor  to  the  feelings  of  this  rare  man  in  endeavoring  to  express  all 
their  ardor." 

Thanks  to  God,  thanks  to  France,  from  all  our  hearts  at  this  hour, 
for  "this  true  and  pure  joy"  which  lightened  the  heart,  and  at  once 
dispelled  the  anxieties  of  our  incomparable  leader.  It  may  be  true  that 
Washington  seldom  smiled  after  he  had  accepted  the  command  of  our 
Revolutionary  Army,  but  it  is  clear  that  on  that  5th  of  September  he  not 
only  smiled  but  played  the  boy.  The  arrival  of  that  magnificent  French 
fleet,  with  so  considerable  a  re  enforcement  of  French  troops,  gave  him 
a  relief  and  a  rapture  which  no  natural  reserve  or  official  dignity  could 
restrain  or  conceal,  and  of  which  he  gave  an  impulsive  manifestation 
by  swinging  his  own  chapeau  in  welcoming  Rochambeau  at  the  wharf. 
In  Washington's  exuberant  joy  we  have  a  measure,  which  nothing  else 
could  supply,  of  the  value  and  importance  of  the  timely  succors  which 
awakened  it.  Thanks,  thanks  to  France,  and  thanks  to  God,  for  vouch 
safing  to  Washington  at  last  that  happy  day,  which  his  matchless  for 
titude  and  patriotism  so  richly  deserved,  and  which,  after  so  many 
trials  and  discouragements,  he  so  greatly  needed. 

"All  now  went  merry,"  with  him,  "as  a  marriage  bell."  Under  the 
immediate  influence  of  this  joy,  which  he  had  returned  for  a  few 
hours  to  Philadelphia  to  communicate  in  person  to  Congress,  where 
all  the  thirteen  hats  must  have  come  off  again  with  three  times 
thirteen  cheers,  and  while  the  Allied  Armies  are  hurrying  southward, 
he  makes  a  hasty  trip  with  Colonel  Humphreys  to  his  beloved  Mount 
Vernon  and  his  more  beloved  wife — his  first  visit  home  since  he  left  it 
for  Cambridge  in  1775.  Rochambeau,  with  his  suite,  joins  him  there  on 
the  10th,  and  Chastellux  and  his  aids  on  the  llth  ;  and  there,  with  Mrs. 
Washington,  he  dispenses,  for  two  days,  ua  princely  hospitality"  to  his 
foreign  guests.  But  the  13th  finds  them  all  on  their  way  to  rejoin  the 
Army  at  Williamsburg,  where  they  arrive  on  the  15th,  "  to  the  great 
joy  of  the  troops  and  the  people,"  and  where  they  dine  with  the  Mar 
quis  de  St.  Simon.  On  the  18th  Washington  and  Rochambeau,  with 
Knox  and  Chastellux  and  Du  Portail,  and  with  two  of  Washington's 
aids,  Colonel  Cobb,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Colonel  Jonathan  Trumbull, 
jr.,  of  Connecticut,  embark  on  the  "Princess  Charlotte"  for  a  visit  to 
the  French  fleet :  and  early  the  next  morning  they  are  greeted  with 
"  the  grand  sight  of  thirty-t»vo  ships  of  the  line" — for  DeBarras,  from 
Newport,  had  joined  De  Grasse,  with  his  four  ships,  magnanimously 
waiving  his  own  seniority  in  rank — "  in  Lynn  Haven  Bay,  just  under 
the  point  of  Cape  Henry."  They  go  on  board  the  Admiral's  ship — the 
famous  "  Ville  de  Paris,"  of  one  hundred  and  four  guns — for  a  visit  of 
ceremoniy  and  consultation,  and  at  their  departure  the  Count  de  Grasse 
mans  the  yards  of  the  whole  fleet  and  fires  salutes  from  all  the  ships. 


74  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION, 

A  few  days  more  are  spent  at  Williamsbnrg  on  their  return,  where  they 
find  General  Lincoln  already  arrived  with  a  part  of  the  troops  from  the 
North,  having  hurried  them,  as  Washington  besought  him,  "  on  the 
wings  of  speed,"  and  where  the  word  is  soon  given,  "  On,  on,  to  York 
and  Gloucester ! " 

Washington  takes  his  share  of  the  exposure  of  this  march,  and  the 
night  ot  the  28th  of  September  finds  him,  with  all  his  military  family, 
sleeping  in  an  open  field  within  two  miles  of  Yorktown,  without  any 
other  covering,  as  the  journal  of  one  of  his  aids  states,  uthan  the  can 
opy  of  the  heavens,  and  the  small  spreading  branches  of  a  tree,"  which 
the  writer  predicts  "  will  probably  be  rendered  venerable  from  this  cir 
cumstance  for  a  length  of  time  to  come."  Yes,  venerable,  or  certainly 
memorable  forever,  if  it  were  known  to  be  in  existence.  You  will  all 
agree  with  me,  my  friends,  that  if  that  tree  which  overshadowed  Washing 
ton  sleeping  in  the  open  air  on  his  way  to  Yorktown,  were  standing  to 
day — if  it  had  escaped  the  necessities  and  casualties  of  the  siege,  and  were 
not  cut  down  for  the  abatis  of  a  redoubt,  or  for  camp-fires  and  cooking 
fires  long  ago — if  it  could  anyhow  be  found  and  identified  in  yonder 
Beech  Wood  or  Locust  Grove  or  Carter's  Grove — no  Wellington  Beech 
or  Napoleon  Willow,  no  Milton  or  even  Shakspeare  Mulberry,  no  Oak 
of  William  the  Conqueror  at  Windsor,  or  of  Henri  IV  at  Fontainebleau, 
nor  even  those  historic  trees  which  gave  refuge  to  the  fugitive  Charles 
II,  or  furnished  a  hiding  place  for  the  Charter  which  he  granted  to 
Connecticut  on  his  restoration,  would  be  so  precious  and  so  hallowed  in 
all  American  eyes  and  hearts  to  the  latest  generation.* 

Everything  now  hurries,  almost  with  the  rush  of  a  Niagara  cataract, 
to  the  grand  fall  of  Arbitrary  Power  in  America.  Lord  Cornwallis  had 
taken  post  here  at  Yorktown  as  early  as  the  4th  of  August,  after  being 
foiled  so  often  by  "  that  boy,"  as  he  called  LaFayette,  whose  Virginia 
campaign  of  four  months  was  the  most  effective  preparation  for  all  that 
was  to  follow,  and  who,  with  singular  foresight,  perceived  at  once  that 
his  lordship  was  now  fairly  entrapped,  and  wrote  to  Washington,  as 
early  as  the  21st  of  August,  that  u  the  British  army  must  be  forced  to 
surrender."  Day  by  day,  night  by  night,  that  prediction  presses  for 
ward  to  its  fulfillment.  The  1st  of  October  finds  our  engineers  recon- 
noiteriug  the  position  and  works  of  the  enemy.  The  2d  witnesses  the 
gallantry  of  the  Duke  de  Lau/un  and  his  legion  in  driving  back  Tarle- 
ton,  whose  raids  had  so  long  been  the  terror  of  Virginia  and  the  Caro- 
linas.  On  the  6th,  the  Allied  Armies  broke  ground  for  their  first  par 
allel,  and  proceeded  to.  mount  their  batteries  on  the  7th  and  8th.  On 
the  9th,  two  batteries  were  opened — Washington  himself  applying  the 
torch  to  the  first  gun  ;  and  on  the  10th,  three  or  four  more  were  in  play — 
u  silencing  the  enemy's  works,  and  making,"  says  the  little  diary  of 
Colonel  Cobb,  "most  noble  music."  On  the  llth,  the  indefatigable 
Baron  Steuben  was  breaking  the  ground  for  our  second  parallel,  within 

*  Washington  Irving  says  it  was  a  mulberry. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

less  than  four  hundred  yards  of  the  enemy,  wbicli  was  fii 
morning,  and  more  batteries  mounted  on  the  13th  and 

But  the  great  achievement  of  the  siege  still  awaits  il 
nieiit.  Two  formidable  British  advanced  redoubts  are  blockin 
to  an}'  further  approach,  and  they  must  be  stormed.  The  alli< 
divide  the  danger  and  the  glory  between  them,  and  emulate  each  otheF 
in  the  assault.  One  of  these  redoubts  is  assigned  to  the  French  grena 
diers  and  chasseurs,  under  the  general  command  of  the  Baron  de  Vio- 
inesnil.  The  other  is  assigned  to  the  American  light  infantry,  under 
the  general  command  of  La  Fayette.  But  the  detail  of  special  leaders  to 
conduct  the  two  assaults  remains  to  be  arranged.  Yiomesnil  readily 
designates  the  brave  Count  William  to  lead  the  French  storming  party, 
who,  though  he  came  oft' from  his  victory  wounded,  counts  it  a  the  hap 
piest  day  of  his  life/7  A  question  arises  as  to  the  American  party, 
which  is  soon  solved  by  the  impetuous  but  just  demand  of  our  young 
Alexander  Hamilton  to  lead  it.  And  lead  it  he  did,  with  an  intrepidity, 
a  heroism,  and  a  dash  unsurpassed  in  the  whole  history  of  the  war. 
The  French  troops  had  the  largest  redoubt  to  assail,  and  were  obliged 
to  pause  a  little  for  the  regular  sappers  and  miners  to  sweep  away  the 
abatis.  But  Hamilton  rushed  on  to  the  front  of  his  redoubt,  with  his 
right  wing  led  by  Colonel  Gimat  and  seconded  by  Major  Nicholas  Fish, 
heedless  of  all  impediments,  overleaping  palisades  and  abatis,  and  scal 
ing  the  parapets — while  the  chivalrous  John  Laurens  was  taking  the 
garrison  in  reverse.  Both  redoubts  were  soon  captured ;  and  these 
brilliant  actions  virtually  sealed  the  fate  of  Cornwallis.  u  A  small  and 
precipitate  sortie,"  as  Washington  calls  it,  was  made  by  the  British  on 
the  following  evening,  resulting  in  nothing ;  and  the  next  day  a  vain  at 
tempt  to  evacuate  their  works,  and  to  escape  by  crossing  over  to  Glou 
cester,  was  defeated  by  a  violent  and,  for  us,  down  the  most  providential 
storm  of  rain  and  wind — of  which  the  elements  favored  us  with  a  Cen 
tennial  reminescence  last  night.  Meantime  not  less  than  a  hundred 
pieces  of  our  heavy  ordnance  were  iri  continual  operation,  and  "  the 
whole  peninsula  trembled  under  the  incessant  thuuderings  of  our  in 
fernal  machines."  Would  that  no  machines  more  truly  "  infernal"  had 
brought  disgrace  on  any  part  of  our  land  in  these  latter  days  !  But 
these  brought  victory  at  that  day.  A  suspension  of  hostilities,  to  ar 
range  terms  of  capitulation,  was  proposed  by  Cornwallis  on  the  17th; 
the  18th  was  occupied  at  Moore's  House  in  settling  those  terms;  and 
on  the  19th  the  articles  were  signed  by  which  the  garrison  of  York  and 
Gloucester,  together  with  all  the  officers  and  seamen  of  the  British 
ships  in  the  Chesapeake,  "surrender  themselves  Prisoners  of  War  to 
the  Combined  Forces  of  America  and  France." 

And  now,  fellow-citizens,  there  follows  a  scene  than  which  nothing 
more  unique  and  picturesque  has  ever  been  witnessed  on  this  continent, 
or  anywhere  else  beneath  the  sun.  Art  has  essayed  in  vain  to  depict 
it.  Trumbull — whose  brother,  not  he  himself,  was  an  eye-witness  of  it  as 


76  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

one  of  Washington's  aids — has  done  his  best  with  it ;  and  his  picture 
in  the  Rotunda  of  the  Capitol  is  full  of  interest  and  value,  giving  the 
portraits  of  the  officers  present,  as  carefully  taken  by  himself  from  the 
originals.  John  Francis  Renault,  too — assistant  secretary  of  the  Count 
deGrasse,  and  an  engineer  of  the  French  Forces — has  left  us  a  contempo 
raneous  engraved  sketch  of  it,  which  has  quite  as  many  elements  of 
fancy  as  of  truth.  In  this  engraving  all  the  officers  are  on  foot,  while 
Trumbull  has  rightly  put  most  of  them  on  horseback.  Meantime,  Re 
nault  not  only  gives  Coruwallis  surrendering  his  sword  in  person,  though 
we  all  know  that  he  did  not  leave  his  quarters  on  that  occasion,  but 
looks  forward  a  full  century  and  exhibits  in  tlie  background  the  Column 
which  ought  to  have  been  here  long  ago,  but  of  which  the  corner-stone 
was  only  laid  yesterday ! 

Standing  here,  however,  on  the  very  spot  to-day,  with  the  records  of 
history  in  our  hands — as  summed  up  in  the  brilliant  volumes  of  Ban 
croft  and  Irving,  or  scattered  through  the  writings  of  Sparks,  or  spread 
in  detail  over  the  "  Field-Book"  of  Lossing,  or  on  the  more  recent  pages 
of  Carrington's  "  Battles  of  the  Revolution "  and  Austin  Steveus's 
American  Historical  Magazine,  not  forgetting  the  precious  journals 
and  diaries  of  Thatcher  and  Trumbull  and  Cobb,  of  Deux-Ponts  and 
the  Abbe  Robin,  and  of  Washington  himself,  nor  that  of  the  humbler 
Auspach  Sergeant  in  the  "Life  of  Steuben" — we  require  no  aid  of  art, 
or  even  of  imagination,  to  call  back,  in  all  its  varied  and  most  impres 
sive  details,  a  scene  which,  as  we  dip  our  brush  to  paint  it  now  at  the 
end  of  a  hundred  years,  seems  almost  like  a  tale  of  Fairy-Land. 

We  see  the  grand  French  Army  drawn  up  for  upwards  of  a  mile  in 
battle  array,  ten  full  regiments,  including  a  Legion  of  Cavalry  with  a 
Corps  of  Royal  Engineers — Bourbonnais  and  Soissonais,  Royal  Deux- 
Ponts,  Saintonge  and  Dillon,  who  have  come  from  Newport,  with  the 
Touraine,  the  Auxonne,  the  Agenais,  and  the  Gatinais,  soon  to  win 
back  the  name  of  the  Royal  Auvergne — who  had  just  landed  from  the 
fleet.  They  are  all  in  their  unsoiled  uniforms  of  snowy  white,  with  their 
distinguishing  collars  and  lappels  of  yellow,  and  violet,  and  crimson, 
arid  green,  and  pink,  wi  h  the  Fleurs  de  Lis  proudly  emblazoned  on 
their  white  silk  regimental  standards,  with  glittering  stars  and  badges 
on  their  officers'  breasts,  and  with  dazzling  gold  and  silver  laced  liveries 
on  their  private  servants — the  timbrel,  with  its  associations  and  tones 
of  triumph,  then  "  a  delightful  novelty,"  lending  unaccustomed  bril 
liancy  to  the  music  of  their  bands! 

Opposite,  and  face  to  face  to  that  splendid  line,  we  see  our  own  war 
worn  American  Army ;  the  regulars,  if  we  had  anything  which  could  be 
called  regulars,  in  front,  clad  in  the  dear  old  Continental  uniform,  still 
"ill  passable  condition";  a  New  York  brigade ;  a  Maryland  brigade; 
the  Pennsylvania  Line;  the  light  companies  made  up  from  New  Hamp 
shire,  Connecticut,  and  Massachusetts  ;  a  Rhode  Island  and  New  Jersey 
battalion,  with  two  companies  from  Delaware;  the  Canadian  Volunteers; 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  77 

a  park  of  artillery,  with  sappers  and  miners;  and  with  a  large  mass  of 
patriotic  Virginian  militia,  collected  and  commanded  by  the  admirable 
Governor  Nelson.  Not  quite  all  the  Colonies,  perhaps,  were  represented 
in  force  as  they  had  been  at  Germantown,  but  hardly  any  of  them  were 
without  some  representation,  individual  if  not  collective — many  of  them 
in  simple,  homespun,  every-day  wear,  many  of  their  dresses  bearing 
witness  to  the  long,  hard  service  they  had  seen — coats  out  at  the  elbow, 
shoes  out  at  the  toe,  and  in  some  cases  no  coats,  no  shoes  at  all.  But  the 
STARS  AND  STRIPES,  which  had  been  raised  first  at  Saratoga,  floated 
proudly  above  their  heads,  and  no  color  blindness  on  that  day  mistook 
their  tints,  misinterpreted  their  teachings,  or  failed  to  recognize  the 
union  they  betokened  and  the  glory  they  foreshadowed. 

Between  these  two  lines  of  the  Allied  Forces,  so  strikingly  and 
strangely  contrasted,  the  British  Army,  in  their  rich  scarlet  coats,  freshly 
distributed  from  supplies  which  must  otherwise  have  been  delivered  up 
as  spoils  to  the  victors,  and  with  their  Auspach,  and  Hessian,  and  u  Yon 
Bose"  auxiliaries  in  blue  are  now  seen  filing — their  muskets  at  shoulder, 
a  their  colors  cased,"  and  their  drums  beating  u  a  British  or  German 
march" — passing  on  to  the  field  assigned  them  for  giving  up  their  stand 
ards  and  grounding  their  arms,  and  then  filing  back  again  to  their 
quarters.  There  is  a  tradition  that  their  bands  played  an  old  English 
air,  "The  World  is  Turning  Upside  Down,"  as  they  well  might  have  done 
and  that  the  American  fifes  and  drums  struck  up  Yankee  Doodle.  But 
all  such  traditions  are  untrustworthy,  and  no  such  incidents  are  needed 
to  give  the  most  vivid  effect  and  lifelike  reality  to  that  imposing  pict 
ure  of  a  hundred  years  ago. 

We  would  not,  if  we  could,  my  friends,  recall  at  this  hour  anything 
which  should  even  seem  like  casting  reproach  or  indignity  upon  the 
armies  or  the  rulers  of  old  Mother  England  at  that  day  or  at  any  day. 
She  did  what  any  other  nation  would  have  done,  our  own  not  excepted, 
to  hold  fast  her  possessions,  and  to  avert  so  serious  a  disruption  of  her 
empire.  And  if  she  did  it  unwisely,  unjustly,  tyrannically,  as  so  many 
of  her  great  statesmen  at  the  time  declared,  and  as  so  many  of  her  later 
historians  and  ministers  have  admitted,  we  may  well  remember  that  the 
principles  and  methods  of  free  government  were  but  little  understood 
by  kings  or  cabinets  of  that  age.  How  unjust  to  carry  back  and  apply 
the  opinions  and  principles  of  a  later  to  a  former  century  !  Who  doubts 
that  good  old  George  III  spoke  from  his  conscience  as  well  as  from  his 
heart  when  he  said  so  touch ingly  to  John  Adams,  on  receiving  him  as 
the  first  American  Minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James,  "I  have  done 
nothing  in  the  late  contest  but  what  I  thought  myself  indispensably 
bound  to  do  by  the  duty  which  I  owed  my  people"?  We  are  here  to  re 
vive  no  animosities  resulting  from  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  or  from 
any  other  war,  remote  or  recent;  rather  to  bury  and  drown  them  all, 
deeper  than  ever  plummet  sounded.  For  all  that  is  grand  and  glorious 
in  the  career  and  example  of  Great  Britain  certainly  we  can  entertain 


78  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

nothing  but  respect  and  admiration  ;  while  I  hazard  little  in  saying  that 
for  the  continued  life  and  welfare  of  her  illustrious  sovereign,  whom 
neither  Anne  nor  Elizabeth  will  outshine  in  history,  the  American  heart 
beats  as  warmly  this  day  as  if  no  Yorktown  had  ever  occurred,  and  no 
Independence  had  ever  separated  us  from  her  imperial  dominion.  And 
we  are  ready  to  say,  and  do  say,  "God  save  the  Queen,"  as  sincerely 
and  earnestly  as  she  herself  and  her  ministers  and  her  people  have  said 
"God  save  the  President"  in  those  recent  hours  of  his  agony. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  when  shouts  of  triumph  were  beginning  to 
resound,  as  the  scene  which  I  have  so  feebly  portrayed  went  on,  Wash 
ington  himself  restrained  and  rebuked  them,  exclaiming,  "  Let  poster 
ity  cheer  for  us  !  "  The  phrase  does  not  altogether  sound  to  me  like  his. 
But  my  late  accomplished  friend,  Lord  Stanhope,  in  his  valuable  his 
tory  of  that  period,  bears  testimony  to  a  similar  incident.  "  Yet  Wash 
ington,"  he  says,  "  with  his  usual  lofty  spirit,  had  no  desire  to  aggra 
vate  the  anguish  and  humiliation  of  honorable  foes.  On  the  contrary, 
he  bade  all  spectators  keep  aloof  from  the  ceremony,  and  suppressed  all 
public  signs  of  exultation." 

And  let  us  not  fail  to  remember  that  England  paid  us  the  compliment 
of  sending  over  the  bra  vest  and  best  of  her  soldiers  and  officers,  to  this 
and  every  other  field  of  the  American  War.  Howe,  and  Burgoyne,  and 
Clinton,  and  Cornwallis  were  all  foemen  worthy  of  any  steel.  It  cer 
tainly  would  not  have  detracted  from  the  permanent  fame  of  Corn- 
wallis — it  would  have  added  to  it  rather — could  he  have  summoned  up 
nerve  enough  to  march  manfully  at  tbe  head  of  his  troops  and  surren 
der  his  sword  to  Washington  in  person.  Yielding  at  last  to  superior 
force — for  the  Allied  Army  was  double  his  own — and  without  a  cloud 
upon  his  courage,  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  shrink  from  in  such  an 
act.  But  unstrung,  as  he  evidently  wras,  by  the  wear  and  tear  of  a  long 
suspense,  and  by  the  disappointing  and  vexatious  delays  of  Sir  Henry 
Clinton — whose  promised  re-enforcements  reached  the  Chesapeake  four 
or  five  days  too  late — the  plea  of  ill-health  was  readily  accepted.  We 
may  well  leave  it  to  Horace  Walpole  to  call  him  '•  a  renegade,"  as  he 
does,  for  having  obeyed  his  Sovereign  by  coming  over  to  conquer  Amer 
ica,  after  being  one  of  a  very  few  members  in  the  House  of  Lords  to 
enter  a  protest  against  some  of  the  arbitrary  acts  or  d<  claratious  which 
gave  occasion  to  the  war.  We  may  leave  it  to  Walpole,  too,  to  tell  the 
story  of  his  having  vowed,  before  he  came,  that  "  he  would  never  pile 
up  his  arms  like  Burgoyne."  The  remembrance  of  such  a  vow,  if  he 
ever  made  it,  would  naturally  have  embarrassed  and  confused  him  at 
Yrorktown — more  especially  if  he  recalled  the  vow  while  dating  his  orig 
inal  proposal  to  surrender,  as  he  did,  on  the  very  anniversary  of  Bur- 
goyne's  surrender  !  But  no  malicious  gossip  of  Strawberry  Hill  must 
prevent  our  recognition  of  Lord  Cornvvallis  as  a  brave  and  accomplished 
officer,  the  very  ablest  of  all  the  British  Generals  in  the  American  War, 
destined  to  the  Governorship  of  Bengal  a  few  years  afterwards,  and 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  79 

later  to  the  Governor-Generalship  of  all  India,  where  he  was  not  only  to 
receive  the  jeweled  sword  of  Tippoo  Saib,  after  the  great  victory  at 
Seringapatam,  but  was  to  win  the  higher  honor  of  being  called  u  the 
first  honest  and  incorruptible  governor  India  ever  saw,  after  whose  ex 
ample  hardly  any  governor  has  dared  to  contemplate  corruption.  Other 
governors,"  it  is  added,  "  were  conquerors,  so  was  he  ;  but  his  victories 
in  the  field,  and  they  were  brilliant,  are  dim  beside  his  victory  over 
corruption."  Nor  is  it  a  much  less  enviable  distinction  for  him,  that,  as 
Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  while  it  was  the  scene  of  a  rebellion,  he  paci 
fied  the  Irish  by  conciliatory  and  moderate  measures.  We  should  all 
rejoice,  I  am  sure,  if  a  similar  tribute  should  be  won,  as  it  seems  so 
likely  to  be,  by  the  present  Lord  Lieutenant,  under  the  lead  of  the  elo 
quent  and  accomplished  Gladstone. 

There  were  other  British  officers  here  destined  to  great  distinction. 
Among  them  was  Lieutenant-Colonel  Abercromby,  who  led  the  little- 
sortie  on  the  night  before  the  capitulation  wras  tendered,  who  had  com 
manded  a  regiment  during  the  whole  war,  who  succeeded  Cornwallis  as 
Commander-in  Chief  of  the  forces  in  India,  and  died  as  Sir  Eobert  Aber 
cromby,  the  oldest  General  in  the  service,  in  1827. 

Among  them,  too,  was  the  young  Lord  Eawdori,  who  had  been  con 
spicuous  at  Bunker  Hill,  when  hardly  of  age,  and  who  had  played  a  dis 
tinguished  part  at  Camden.  He  was  here  only  as  an  enforced  spectator, 
however,  having  been  brought  to  the  Chesapeake  as  a  prisoner  of  war 
by  De  Grasse,  who  had  captured  him  a  few  weeks  before  on  board  a 
Charleston  packet.  He  went  home  at  last  to  be  Earl  of  Moira  and  Mar 
quis  of  Hastings,  and,  like  Cornwaliis,  Governor-General  of  India,  His 
name  may  well  be  recalled,  as  adding  another  to  the  remarkable  num 
ber  of  notabilities  of  all  countries  who  were  more  or  less  associated  with 
Yorktown. 

And,  indeed,  but  for  the  delays  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  the  young 
Prince  William  Henry,  afterwards  William  IV,  then  a  midshipman  in 
the  British  fleet  here,  might,  perchance,  have  added  something  even  of 
Eoyal  dignity  to  the  scene. 

But  I  must  not  forget  the  second  in  command  on  this  field,  who  led 
up  the  British  forces  to  the  formal  surrender,  bringing  the  sword  of 
Cornwallis  in  his  hand— the  gallant  and  genial  Brigadier  Charles 
O'Hara,  a  man  of  singular  elegance  and  personal  beauty;  a  strict  and 
thorough  disciplinarian;  the  special  friend  of  that  General  Con  way, 
afterwards  Field  Marshal  Conway,  whose  efforts  against  the  stamp  act, 
and  to  put  an  end  to  the  war,  secured  him  not  only  the  respect  of  all 
America,  but  even  a  portrait  in  Faneuil  Hall,  which,  alas,  the  British 
soldiers  destroyed  or  carried  away  at  the  evacuation  ot  Boston.  O'Hara 
went  home  to  be  wounded  at  the  siege  of  Toulon  in  1792,  and  to  die  ten 
years  later  as  Governor  of  Gibraltar.  It  was  of  him  that  it  is  said  in 
Cyril  Thornton,"  a  favorite  novel  half  a  century  ago,  by  an  author 
who  knew  him  well,  "His  appearance  was  of  that  striking  cast  which 


80  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

once  seen  is  not  easily  forgotten.  General  O'Hara  was  the  most  per 
fect  specimen  I  ever  saw  of  the  soldier  and  courtier  of  the  last  age.  Not 
withstanding  the  strictness  of  discipline  which  he  scrupulously  enforced, 
no  officer  could  be  more  universally  popular.  The  honors  of  the  table 
were  done  by  his  staff,  and  the  General  was  in  nothing-  distinguished 
from  those  around  him,  except  by  being  undoubtedly  the  gayest  and 
most  agreeable  person  in  the  company."  It  may  not  be  less  interesting 
to  recall  the  fact  that  he  was  on  the  point  of  being  married,  in  1795,  to 
Miss  Mary  Berry — Horace  Walpole's  Miss  Berry — so  celebrated  in  the 
social  history  of  London,  who  lived  to  be  ninety,  and  who,  forty-eight 
years  after  the  engagement  was  broken,  reopened  the  packet  of  letters 
which  had  passed  between  them,  arid  left  a  touching  record,  which  is  in 
her  published  memoirs,  of  "the  disappointed  hopes  and  blighted  affec 
tions  that  had  deepened  the  natural  vein  of  sadness  in  her  character." 
Whatever  misunderstandings  or  mistakes  may  have  broken  off  the 
match,  to  the  great  sorrow  of  them  both,  it  is  certainly  nowhere  sug 
gested  that  the  lady  thought  any  the  worse  of  her  lover  because  he  had 
been  the  dignified  and  graceful  bearer  of  Cornwallis's  sword  to  Wash 
ington.  This  gay  agreeable  person  dined  here  with  Washington  at 
headquarters  on  the  very  day  of  the  surrender;  and  Colonel  Trumbull 
makes  special  note  in  his  diary  that  u  he  was  very  social  and  easy." 

But  I  turn  at  once  from  anything  sentimental  or  romantic  to  others 
of  the  real,  substantial  actors  of  the  day.  And  there  could  surely  be 
nothing  more  real  or  more  substantial  than  the  American  General  now 
deputed  by  Washington  to  receive  the  sword  from  O'Hara's  hand,  and 
to  conduct  him  and  the  British  host  to  the  field  for  laying  down  their 
arms,  the  sturdy,  stalwart  BENJAMIN  LINCOLN,  of  Massachusetts-,  the 
senior  American  Major-General  on  the  ground,  nearly  fifty  years  of  age?- 
and  of  a  plump  and  portly  figure,  who  had  conducted  the  Northern  Army 
to  this  place,  had  occupied  the  right  of  the  line,  at  Wormeley's  Creek, 
during  the  siege,  and  who  is  now  instructed  to  mete  out  to  the  surren 
dering  forces  the  same  precise  measure  of  consideration  and  honor  which 
Clinton  and  Cornwallis  had  met ed  out  to  him  at  his  recent  capitulation 
of  Charleston.  A  few  months  afterwards  he  was  elected  by  Congress 
the  first  Secretary  of  War  of  the  United  States,  and  had  the  privilege, 
in  that  capacity,  of  presenting  to  Washington  the  two  British  Yorktown 
standards  assigned  to  him  by  Congress,  and  of  receiving  from  Wash, 
ington,  in  reply,  a  most  affectionate  acknowledgment  of  "  particular  ob 
ligations  for  able  and  friendly  counsel  in  the  Cabinet  and  vigor  in  the 
field."  Lincoln  deserved  it  all  for  patriotic  and  persevering  service  dur 
ing  the  whole  Revolution.  Nor  will  Massachusetts  ever  forget  the  in 
valuable  aid  which  he  rendered  to  Governor  Bowdoin  in  the  suppression 
of  Shays'  Rebellion  in  1786-'87. 

And  here,  too,  from  Massachusetts — for  I  will  furnish  the  roll  of  my 
own  State  before  passing  to  others — was  HENRY  KNOX,  Brigadier-Gen 
eral  in  command  of  the  American  Artillery,  which  he  had  organized  and 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  81 

conducted  from  the  siege  of  Boston  to  that  of  York  town,  as  staunch  and 
as  responsive  as  any  one  of  the  very  field-pieces,  whether  six  or  twelve 
or  eighteen  or  twenty-four  pounders,  which  he  tended  and  "  trained  up 
in  the  way  they  should  go"  as  his  own  children  ;  who,  as  Chastellux 
bears  witness,  u  seldom  left  the  batteries,  incessantly  directing  the  ar 
tillery,  and  often  himself  pointing  the  mortars  ;''  whose  energy  and  ac 
tivity,  in  providing  heavy  cannon  for  this  siege,  led  Washington  to  say 
of  him,  in  the  report  to  Congress  which  secured  his  promotion  to  a  Major- 
Generalship,  that  "the  resources  of  his  genius  supplied  the  deficit  of 
means."  He,  also,  was  afterwards  Secretary  of  War  of  the  United 
States,  succeeding  Lincoln  in  1785,  and  serving  in  the  Cabinet  of  Wash 
ington  until  his  resignation  in  1794. 

And  here,  under  Kuox,  as  a  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  Artillery,  was  the 
brave  and  devoted  Ebenezer  Stevens,  like  Knox,  a  Boston  boy,  a  Son 
of  Liberty,  one  of  the  Tea-party;  whose  services,  here  and  elsewhere, 
were  of  the  highest  value,  in  connection  with  Colonel  Lamb,  of  New 
York,  and  LieL  tenant-Colonel  Cai  ring-ton,  of  Virginia,  and  Major  Bau- 
nian  ;  who  lived  to  superintend  the  fortifications  on  Governor's  Island, 
in  New  York  Harbor,  in  1800;  and  having  fixed  his  residence  in  that 
city,  to  command  the  Artillery  of  the  State  in  the  War  of  18L2. 

James  Thacher,  of  old  Plymouth,  was  here  as  a  Surgeon,  under 
Washington's  favorite  Surgeon,  James  Craik,  of  Virginia,  the  author 
of  an  interesting  "  Military  Journal"  of  the  Ke volution,  and  among 
whose  papers  I  have  seen  a  rough  sketch  of  the  Surrender.  Colonel 
Joseph  Vose  was  here,  sometime  at  the  head  of  the  first  Massachusetts 
Continental  Infantry,  but  now  in  La  Fayette's  corps.  And  DAVID  COBB 
was  here,  in  the  enviable  capacity  of  an  Aid  to  Washington ;  who  kept 
a  little  Diary  on  the  field,  from  which  I  have  already  quoted  ;  who  lived 
to  hold  both  military  and  judicial  office  in  Massachusetts,  and  who  will 
always  be  associated  with  that  brave  saying  of  his,  during  Shays'  Rebel 
lion,  "  I  will  sit  as  a  Judge  or  die  as  a  General." 

Colonel  TIMOTHY  PICKERING  was  here  also,  who  from  his  first  bold 
resistance  to  the  British  Troops  at  the  Salem  drawbridge  in  '75,  before 
Bunker  Hill  or  even  Concord  and  Lexington,  down  to  the  end  of  the 
war,  did  memorable  military  service;  who  was  with  Washington  in  his 
famous  retreat  across  the  Jerseys,  and  was  Adjutant-General  at  Bran- 
dywine  and  Gerrnantown.  He  was  here  as  Quartermaster- General  of 
the  American  Army,  and  was  afterwards  Secretary  of  War  and  Secre 
tary  of  State  in  Washington's  Cabinet. 

But  let  me  hasten  to  the  representatives  of  other  States. 

New  Hampshire  was  represented  here  by  HENRY  DEARBORN,  a  brave 
and  devoted  officer  from  Bunker  Hill  to  Yorktown  ;  afterwards  Secre 
tary  of  War  to  Jefferson  and  Commander-in  Chief  of  the  Army,  but 
here  as  Assistant  Quartermaster-General  to  Pickering ;  and  by  Nich 
olas  Gilrnan,  afterwards  a,  member  of  the  Continental  Congress  at 
Philadelphia,  and  for  many  years  a  Representative  and  Senator  in  Coii- 
S.  Rep.  1003 6 


82  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

gress  under  the  Constitution,  but  who  now,  as  Deputy  Adjutant-Gen 
eral,  received  from  Lord  Cortiwallis,  to  whom  he  was  sent  for  the  pur 
pose  by  Washington,  the  return  of  exactly  7,050  men  surrendered.  But 
New  Hampshire  may  claim  the  distinction  of  having  sent  to  this  field 
its  most  distinguished  victim,  the  lamented  young  ALEXANDER  SCAM- 
MELL,  who,  though  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  graduate  of  Har 
vard,  was  here  in  immediate  command  of  New  Hampshire  troops  ;  who, 
surprised  while  out  with  a  reconnoiteriug  party,  in  an  early  stage  of  the 
siege,  was  mortally  and  basely  wounded  by  his  captors ;  and  of  whose 
death,  on  the  Gth  of  September,  it  is  said  by  Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia,  in 
his  "  Memoirs  of  the  War,"  "  This  was  the  severest  blow  experienced  by 
the"  allied  army  throughout  the  siege  j  not  an  officer  in  our  army  sur 
passed  in  personal  worth  and  professional  ability  this  experienced  sol 
dier." 

Connecticut  was  represented  here  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Ebenezer 
Hunting-ton  and  Major  John  Palsgrave  Wyllis,  and  especially  by  Colonel 
Jonathan  Trumbull,  jr.,  a  Secretary  and  Aide-De-Camp  of  Washington, 
and  the  son  of  the  great  Revolutionary  War  Governor,  Jonathan  Trum 
bull  ;  and  by  Colonel  DAVID  HUMPHREYS,  another  and  most  valued 
member  of  Washington's  military  family,  to  whose  care  the  captured 
standards  of  the  surrendering  army  were  consigned ;  who  received  a 
sword  from  Congress  in  acknowledgment  of  his  fidelity  and  ability,  and 
to  whom  Washington  presented  the  epaulets  worn  by  himself  through 
out  the  war,  now  among  the  treasures  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society ;  afterwards  a  minister  to  Portugal  and  to  Spain  ;  one  of  the 
earliest  importers  of  merino  sheep ;  a  miscellaneous  and  somewhat  pro 
lific  poet ;  and  who  commanded  the  militia  of  Connecticut  in  the  War  of 
1812. 

Rhode  Island  was  represented  here  by  Colonel  Jeremiah  Olney  at 
the  head  of  one  of  her  regiments,  and  by  his  distant  relative,  the  gallant 
Captain  Stephen  Olney,  who  was  the  first  to  mount  the  parapet  and  form 
his  company  in  Hamilton's  redoubt  on  the  14th. 

New  Jersey7  was  represented  here  by  Eiias  Dayton,  Francis  Barber, 
and  Matthias  Ogdeu,  at  the  head  of  her  regiments  of  Continental  In 
fantry,  as  well  as  by  Colonel  Aaron  Ogden,  afterwards  United  States 
Senator  and  Governor  of  the  State. 

Pennsylvania  was  represented  here  by  General  Peter  Muhleuberg,  a 
relative  of  the  first  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the. 
United  States,  who  had  thrown  off  his  gown  as  a  Lutheran  preacher,  in 
'70,  in  Virginia,  u  to  organize  out  of  his  several  congregations  one  of 
the  most  perfect  battalions  in  the  army;"  by  Adjutant-General  Ed 
ward  Hand  and  Colonel  Walter  Stewart ;  by  Brodhead  and  Moylan,  and 
the  two  Butlers,  at  the  head  of  her  regiments,  and  Parr  at  the  head  of 
her  Rifle  Battalion ;  by  Arthur  St.  Clair,  born  in  Scotland,  grandson 
of  an  Earl  of  Rosslyn,  who  had  been  with  Amherst  at  Louisburgh  and 
Avith  Wolfe  at  Quebec,  who  is  here  as  a  volunteer  in  Washington's  mili- 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  83 

tary  family,  afterwards  to  be  President  of  the  Continental  Congress ; 
and,  pre-eminently,  by  ANTHONY  WAYNE,  the  hero  of  Stony  Point, 
u  Mad  Anthony,"  as  he  was  sometimes  called,  here  in  command  of  the 
Pennsylvania  line,  and  who  died  in  1796,  as  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  United  States  Army. 

Maryland  was  represented  here  by  General  Mordecai  Gist,  by  Adams 
and  Woolford  and  Moore  and  Roxburgh,  in  command  of  her  regiments 
and  battalions,  and  more  especially  by  Colonel  TENCH  TILGHMAN,  a 
favorite  Aid  of  Washington,  who  was  deputed  by  him  to  bear  the  tid 
ings  of  the  surrender -to  Congress. 

New  York  was  represented  here  by  James  Cliutou,  a  brother  of  Vice- 
Presideut  George  Clinton,  whose  statue  is  now  in  the  Rotunda  of  the 
Capitol,  and  the  father  of  the  eminent  De  Witt  Clinton,  who,  himself, 
having  served  as  a  Captain  in  the  old  French  War,  and  as  a  Colonel 
under  the  lamented  Montgomery  in  1775,  was  now,  as  Major-General, 
in  command  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Rhode  Island  troops,  with 
Van  Schaick,  and  Van  Dyck,  and  Van  Cortlaudt  as  his  Colonels.  But 
New  York  had  otber  representatives  on  this  field,  lower  in  grade,  but 
one  of  them,  at  least,  second  to  none  of  her  soldiers  or  citizens  either 
in  immediate  estimation  or  in  future  eminence.  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 
was  here,  I  need  hardly  repeat,  commanding  a  battalion  of  La  Fayette's 
light  infantry,  and  who  by  his  heroism  at  the  redoubt,  as  we  have  seen, 
had  been  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  contributors  to  the  result  of  which 
he  was  now  a  witness.  Destined  to  so  early  and  brilliant  a  career  in 
the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution,  as  one  of  the  principal 
writers  of  the  "Federalist,"  and  as  the  organizer  of  our  financial  sys 
tem  in  the  Cabinet  of  Washington,  he  is  a  bright  particular  star,  with 
no  lessening  ray,  on  the  field  of  Yorktown,  never  to  be  lost  sight  of  in 
the  history  of  our  country.  Xor  must,  his  friend  and  fellow  officer  of 
the  light  infantry  battalion,  Major  NICHOLAS  FISH,  fail  to  be  mentioned, 
who  shared  with  him  the  perils  of  the  storming  party  ;  who  lived  a  pure, 
patriotic,  and  useful  life,  and  who  gave  the  name  of  Hamilton  to  a  son, 
whose  recent  discharge  of  the  duties  of  Secretary  of  State  has  added 
fresh  distinction  to  the  name. 

I  cannot  pass  from  the  name  of  Hamilton  without  recalling  at  once 
that  heroic  representative  of  South  Carolina  who  was  here  with  him, 
and  who  was  hardly  second  in  interest — to  every  American  eye,  cer 
tainly — to  any  other  figure  on  this  field — the  young  JOHN  LAURENS, 
often  called  "the  Bayard  of  the  American  Revolution,"  sou  of  Henry 
Laurens,  once  President  of  the  Continental  Congress,  but  at  this 
moment  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower  of  London,  of  which,  by  a  striking  coin 
cidence,  Lord  Cornwallis  was  the  titular  Constable.  After  having 
served  on  the  staff  of  Washington — who  "loved  him  as  a  son,"  and  who 
said  of  him  that  "  he  had  not  a  fault  that  he  could  discover,  unless  it 
was  an  intrepidity  bordering  on  rashness" — he  had  now  just  returned 
from  a  confidential  and  successful  mission  to  France,  for  which  he  had 


84  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

received  the  thanks  of  Congress.  He  was  with  Hamilton  in  storming 
the  redoubt,  and  had  the  signal  distinction  of  being  one  of  the  two 
commissioners,  with  the  Vicomte  de  Noailles,  the  brother-in-law  of 
La  Fayette,  to  arrange  the  terms  of  the  surrender,  at  Moore's  House, 
with  Colonel  Dnndas  and  Colonel  Ross  of  the  British  Army.  His 
untimely  death,  at  only  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  within  a  year  after 
wards,  in  a  petty  skirmish  in  South  Carolina,  while  serving  under  Gen 
eral  Greene,  produced  a  shock  throughout  the  whole  country.  Roland y 
at  Roncesvalles,  just  a  thousand  years  before,  did  not  leave  a  more 
fragrant  and  enduring  memory.  It  lias  been  well  said  of  him  that  "of 
all  the  youthful  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  there  is  not  one  upon  whose 
story  the  recollections  of  his  contemporaries  have  more  fondly  dwelt." 
There  was  no  one  of  his  period  for  whom  the  highest  honors  of  our 
land  might  have  been  more  safely  predicted;  no  one  in  whose  ear  it 
might  have  been  more  confidently  whispered  a  hundred  years  ago  to 
day — 

Si  qua  fata  anpern  rumpus, 
Tn  Marcellus  <M-is! 

His  father  nobly  said,  on  hearing  of  his  death,  just  after  his  own  re 
lease  from  the  Tower,  k'l  thank  God  1  had  a  son  who  dared  to  die  for 
his  country." 

The  soldiers  of  South  Carolina,  at  the  moment  of  this  siege,  had  enough 
to  do  at  home  in  defense  of  their  own  firesides  and  families,  of  which 
the  Battle-Flag  of  their  gallant  William  Washington,  borne  by  him  at 
the  Cowpeus  and  at  Eutaw,  and  ordered  by  the  Governor  of  the  State 
to  be  brought  here  by  the  old  Washington  Light  Infantry  of  Charleston, 
is  a  touching  and  precious  reminder.  But  one  such  representative  of 
the  State  on  this  lield  as  John  Laurens  is  enough  to  secure  her  a  proud 
and  distinguished  place  in  the  memories  of  this  anniversary. 

Nor  was  the  Canada  of  that  day  without  a  worthy  representative 
here  in  the  person  of  Colonel  Moses  Hazen,  who  had  been  wounded 
under  Wolfe  on  the  heights  of  Quebec;  who  rendered  valuable  service 
to  the  end  of  our  war,  and  was  promoted  to  be  a  Brigadier-General  of 
our  Army,  but  was  here  in  command  of  a  regiment  of  Canadians,  re 
cruited  by  himself,  sometimes  called  " Congress's  Own"  and  sometimes 
"  Hazen's  Own." 

And  now,  fellow  citizens,  let  me  by  no  means  proceed  further  with 
out  naming,  with  every  degree  of  emphasis  and  distinction,  that  sterl 
ing  soldier  and  thorough  disciplinarian,  who  had  been  an  aid-de-camp 
of  Frederick  the  Great,  and  served  at  the  celebrated  siege  of  Schweid- 
nitz  in  Prussia,  but  who  joined  the  American  Army  in  1777,  and  drilled, 
and  disciplined,  and  fairly  reorganized  it,  so  untiringly  and  so  effect 
ively,  at  Valley  Forge — Major  General  BARON  VON  STEUBEN.  He  was 
here  in  command  of  the  combined  division  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  and 
Pennsylvania  troops,  and  as  Inspector-General  of  the  Army  of  the 
United  States.  It  fell  to  his  lot  to  receive  the  first  overture  of  capitu- 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  85 

lation  while  on  his  tour  of  duty  iu  the  trenches,  and  he  resolutely  re 
fused  to  leave  those  trenches  till  the  British  flag  was  struck.  The 
very  last  letter  which  Washington  wrote  as  Commander- in-Chief,  dated 
on  the  very  day  of  his  resignation  at  Annapolis,  was  a  letter  of  com 
pliment  and  gratitude  to  Steubeu ;  and  to  no  one  did  Washington  or 
the  American  Army  owe  more  than  they  owed  to  him.  All  honor  to 
the  memory  of  the  brave  old  German  soldier  from  every  heart  and  lip 
here  gathered,  and  a  cordial  welcome  to  the  representatives  of  his  family 
who  have  accepted  the  invitation  of  the  United  States  to  assist  at  this 
Commemoration ! 

And  in  the  same  connection  may  be  justly  named  Brigadier-General 
Chevalier  DE  PORTAIL,  who  commanded  the  engineers  on  this  field, 
and  who,  on  Washington's  special  recommendation,  was  promoted  by 
Congress,  for  his  services  at  the  siege,  to  be  a  Major- General  of  the 
United  States  Army. 

These.  I  believe,  were  the  only  two  distinguished  foreign  officers — 
apart  entirely  from  La  Fayette  and  the  French  auxiliary  officers — who 
were  present  at  Yorktowu.  PULASKI  had  fallen  two  years  before,  at 
Savannah  ;  DE  KALB  a  year  before,  at  Camden;  while  KOSCIUSKO  was 
still  at  the  South  with  General  Greene,  where  he  succeeded  the  lamented 
Lanrens — all  three  of  them  brave,  heroic  men,  whose  names  can  never 
be  omitted  from  the  roll  of  honor  of  the  American  Revolution. 

jSuch,  fellow-citizens,  were  the  principal  officers,  from  other  States, 
and  other  parts  of  the  country  and  of  the  world,  who  were  gathered  on 
this  Virginia  field,  in  immediate  association  with  the  American  Line. 

Opposite  to  them,  in  that  splendid  French  Line,  stood  the  gallant 
strangers  who  had  been  so  generously  sent  to  our  aid. 

Here,  at  the  head  of  them,  was  the  veteran  Count  de  ROCHAMBEAU, 
now  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  ahd  in  the  thirty-ninth  year  of  his 
military  service,  who  had  long  been  known  and  noted  for  his  bravery  in  the 
wars  of  the  Continent.  Cool,  prudent,  reserved,  conciliatory,  no  one 
could  have  been  more  perfectly  suited  to  the  delicate  duties  which  de 
volved  upon  him  in  co-operating  with  an  army  of  a  different  land  and 
language,  and  no  one  could  have  discharged  those  duties  more  faithfully . 
Perhaps  his  very  ignorance  of  the  English  tongue  was  a  positive  safe 
guard  and  advantage  for  him ;  it  certainly  saved  him  from  hearing  or 
saying  any  rash  or  foolish  things.  Washington  bore  witness,  in  the  let 
ter  bidding  him  farewell,  to  the  high  sense  he  entertained  of  the  inval 
uable  services  he  had  rendered  "by  the  constant  attention  he  had  paid 
to  the  interest  of  the  American  cause,  by  the  exact  order  and  discipline 
of  the  corps  under  his  command,  arid  by  his  readiness  at  nil  times  to 
give  facility  to  every  measure  to  which  the  force  of  the  combined  armies 
was  competent."  Congress  presented  to  him  two  of  the  captured  can 
non,  with  suitable  inscriptions  and  devices,  which  long  adorned  the 
family  chateau  in  the  Vendome,  in  testimony  of  the  illustrious  part 
he  had  played  here.  His  name  on  the  still  delayed  Column — one  of  only 


86  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

three  names  in  the  originally  prescribed  inscription — will  soon  be  en 
graved  where  all  the  world  can  read  it.  Returning  home  at  the  close 
of  our  war,  he  received  the  highest  honors  from  his  Sovereign  ;  was 
Governor  successively  of  Picanty  and  Alsace;  commanded  the  French 
Army  of  the  North,  and  in  1791  was  made  a  Marshal  of  France.  Nar 
rowly  escaping  the  guillotine  of  Robespierre,  he  lived  to  receive  the 
cordon  of  Grand  Officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  from  Napoleon,  and  died 
in  1807,  at  eighty- two  years  of  age.  We  welcome  the  presence  of  his 
representative,  the  Marquis  de  Rochambeau,  at  this  festival,  and  of 
Madame  la  Marquise,  here  happily  at  my  side,  and  offer  them  the  cordial 
recognition  which  is  due  to  their  name  and  rank. 

Here,  in  equal  rank  and  honor  with  Rochambeau,  stood  the  Count  de 
GRASSE,  in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  who  was  associated  with  our 
War  for  Independence  hardly  more  than  a  month,  but  who  during  that 
momentous  month  did  enough  to  secure  our  lasting  respect  and  grati 
tude;  whose  services,  as  Lieutenant-General  and  Admiral  of  the  Naval 
Army  and  Fleet  of  France,  in  yonder  bay,-  were  second  in  importance 
to  none  in  the  whole  siege ;  to  whom  Washington  did  not  hesitate  to 
write,  the  very  day  after  the  event,  uThe  surrender  of  York,  from 
which  so  great  glory  and  advantage  are  derived  to  the  Allies,  and  the 
honor  of  which  belongs  to  your  Excellency."  The  sympathies  of  all  his 
companions  here  were  deeply  stirred  when,  losing  his  famous  flag-ship 
and  a  large  part  of  bis  fleet  on  his  way  home,  he  reached  England  as  a 
prisoner  of  Admiral  Rodney,  to  be  released  only  after  our  Treaty  of 
Peace  was  signed ;  and,  though  he  had  vindicated  his  conduct  before  a 
court-martial  demanded  by  himself,  to  die  in  retirement  after  a  few 
years,  without  having  regained  the  favor  of  a  sovereign  who  could  par 
don  anything  and  everything  but  defeat.  Honor  this  day  to  the  mem 
ory  of  the  brave  Count  de  Grasse,  whose  name,  as  Washington  wrote 
to  Rochambeau  on  hearing  of  his  death,  "will  be  long  deservedly  dear 
to  this  country!" 

Here,  second  in  command  of  the  French  Line,  was  that  worthy  and 
excellent  General,  the  Baron  de  VIOMESNIL,  who  brought  a  gallant 
brother,  the  Viscount,  with  him,  and  who  himself  returned  home  "  to 
be  killed  before  the  last  rampart  of  Constitutional  Royalty,"  on  the  10th 
of  August,  1792. 

Here,  in  hardly  inferior  rank,  was  Major-General  the  Marquis  de 
CHASTELLUX  ;  genial,  brilliant,  accomplished,  the  Journal  of  whose 
tour  in  America — indifferently  translated  and  scandalously  annotated 
by  an  English  adventurer — is  full  of  the  liveliest  interest ;  who  returned 
home  to  be  one  of  the  immortal  Forty  of  the  French  Academy,  welcomed 
by  a  discourse  of  Buffon  on  Taste  ;  and,  better  still,  to  receive  one  of  the 
very  few  humorous  and  playful  letters  which  Washington  ever  wrote — 
bantering  him  "  on  his  catching  that  terrible  contagion,  domestic  felic 
ity,"  which,  alas!  he  only  lived  to  enjoy  for  six  years.  Washington 
had  before  written  to  him,  soon  after  his  return  home :  "  I  can  truly 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  87 

say,  that  never  in  my  life  have  I  parted  with  a  man  to  whom  my  son! 
clave  more  sincerely  than  it  did  to  yon." 

The  Admiral  Count  de  BARRAS  was  here — the  senior  naval  officer  of 
France  at  the  siege,  but  who  generously  waived  his  seniority ;  who  was 
privileged,  however,  to  sign  the  Articles  of  Capitulation  for  himself  and 
the  Count  de  Grasse  j  who  was  fortunate  enough  to  escape  any  share 
in  the  defeat  by  Rodney  ;  who  reached  home  in  season  to  be  promoted, 
and  then  to  die  before  the  outbreak  of  a  Revolution  in  which  his 
nephew,  of  the  same  name,  was  famous  as  a  Jacobin  and  regicide,  and 
afterwards  as  the  head  of  the  Directory. 

The  magnificent  Duke  de  LAUZUN  was  here,  conspicuous  by  his  tall 
hussar  cap  and  plume — afterwards  Duke  de  Biron — a  gay  Lothario  in 
the  salon,  but  dauntless  in  the  field,  who,  at  the  head  of  his  legion,  put 
Tarleton  himself  to  flight ;  but  who  returned  home  to  be,  in  1793,  one  of 
the  victims  of  the  guillotine. 

Two  of  the  LAVAL-MONTMORENCYS  were  here :  the  Marquis,  at  the 
head  of  the  Bourbonnais  regiment ;  and  his  young  son,  the  Viscount 
Matthieu,  afterwards  the  Duke  de  Montmorency: — an  intimate  friend  of 
Madame  de  Stael,  long  a  resident  at  Coppet,  and  who  was  eminently 
distinguished,  in  later  years,  for  his  accomplishments  and  his  philan 
thropy. 

The  young  Count  AXEL  DE  FERSEN  was  here — a  Swedish  nobleman, 
and  Aid  to  Rochambeau,  "  the  Adonis  of  the  camp";  who  returned  to 
France  to  become  a  suitor  of  Madame  de  Stael  and  a  favorite  of  Marie 
Antoinette — to  whose  zeal  in  aiding  the  flight  of  the  King  and  Queen, 
with  "a  glass-coach  and  a  new  berline,"  himself  on  the  box,  Carlyle 
devotes  an  early  and  humorous  chapter  of  his  u  French  Revolution" — 
and  who  was  killed  at  last  by  a  mob  in  Stockholm,  in  1810,  on  an  un 
founded  charge  of  having  been  privy  to  the  murder  of  a  popular  prince. 

The  brave  young  Duke  de  ROUERIE  was  here,  under  the  modest  title 
of  Colonel  Armand,  who,  alter  good  service  in  our  cause  for  two  years, 
had  sailed  for  France  in  February,  1781,  but  had  returned  in  Septem 
ber  in  season  to  be  at  the  siege,  and  was  a  volunteer  at  the  capture  of 
one  of  the  redoubts.  Before  the  war  was  over  he  was  made  a  Brigadier- 
General  on  the  special  recommendation  of  Washington.  He  went  home 
at  last  to  be  a  prisoner  in  the  Bastille,  and  to  die  of  fever  or  of  poison, 
in  a  forest,  to  which  he  had  fled  from  Danton  and  Robespierre. 

The  Marquis  de  ST.  SIMON,  we  know,  was  here,  in  command  of  the 
whole  splendid  corps,  just  landed  from  the  fleet,  sailed  by  Rochambeau 
"one  of  the  bravest  men  that  lived";  wounded  while  commanding  in 
the  French  trenches,  but  who  insisted  on  being  carried  to  the  assault 
at  the  head  of  his  troops;  who,  after  our  war  was  ended,  entered  the 
service  of  Spain,  and,  after  various  fortunes,  died  a  Captain-General  of 
that  Kingdom. 

But  a  second  Marquis  de  ST.  SIMON  was  here  also,  of  still  greater 
historic  notoriety — a  young  soldier  of  twenty-one,  who  had  been  a  pupil 


88  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

of  D'Alembert,  who  lived  to  be  the  proposer  to  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico 
of  a  canal  to  unite  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  and  to  be  the  author 
of  a  scheme  for  the  fundamental  reconstruction  of  society — the  founder 
of  St.  Simonianism,  with  Comte  for  a  time  as  one  of  his  disciples,  and 
whose  published  works  fill  not  less  than  twenty  volumes. 

And  here  was  the  Count  MATTHIEU  DUMAS,  another  of  Eochatn  bean's 
aids,  who  bore  a  conspicuous  part  at  one  of  the  redoubt*  and  was  one 
of  the  first  to  enter  it,  who  returned  home  to  be  a  member  of  the 
Assembly  and  a  peer  of  France,  whose  last  military  service  was  with 
Napoleon  at  Waterloo,  arid  who.  in  1830,  gave  active  assistance  to  La 
Fayette  in  placing  Louis  Philippe  oil  the  throne — dying  at  eighty -four 
years  of  age. 

Count  CHARLES  DE  LAMETH  was  here,  too,  as  an  Adjutant-General, 
and  was  severely  wounded  at  the  storming  of  the  redoubts,  who  after 
wards  served  in  the  French  army  of  the  North  till  the  memorable  10th 
of  August,  1792,  became  a  Deputy  at  the  Restoration,  and  was  living 
as  late  as  1832. 

But  how  can  I  attempt  to  portray  the  numerous,  I  had  almost  said 
the  numberless,  French  officers  of  high  name  and  family  who  were 
gathered  on  this  field  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  who  went  home  to  so 
many  strange  fortunes,  and  not  a  few  of  them  to  such  sad  fates  ? "  It 
would  require  no  small  share  of  the  genius  which  old  Homer  displayed 
in  his  wonderful  catalogue  of  the  ships  and  forces  which  came  to  the 
siege  of  Troy,  when  Pope  translates  him  as  demanding  of  the  Muses 

A  thousand  tongues, 
A  throat  of  brass,  and  adamantine  lungs ! 

Time  certainly  would  fail  me  were  1  to  give  more  than  the  names  of 
General  de  Choisy  and  the  Marquis  de  Kostaing  ;  of  the  Marquis  and 
Count  de  Deux- Pouts  ;  of  the  Counts  de  Custine  and  de  Charlus,  d' Audi- 
champ  and  de  Dillon,  de  1'Estrade,  de  St.  Mai  me,  and  (TOlonne  ;  of  the 
Viscounts  de  Noailles  and  de  Pondeux ;  of  Admiral  Destouches  and 
Commodore  the  Count  de  Bougainville  ;  of  General  Desandrouins  and 
Colonel  the  Viscount  d'Aboville ;  of  Colonels  de  Querenet  and  Gimat, 
and  Major  Gal  van  ;  of  M.  de  Menonville  and  the  Marquis  de  Vauban  :  of 
M.  de  Bevilleand  M.  Blanchard  ;  of  Chevalier  da  la  Vallette,  M.  de  Bres- 
solles,  and  M.  de  Broglie  ;  of  Chevalier,  afterwards  the  Baron,  Durand, 
a  General  of  the  French  Army  at  the  Ilestoration  ;  of  M.  de  Montesquieu, 
son  of  the  author  of  "  L'Esprit  des  Lois";  of  M.  de  Mirabeau,  brother 
of  the  matchless  orator;  of  M. .de  Berthier,  afterwards  one  of  Napo 
leon's  Chiefs  of  Staff,  a  Marshal  of  France,  and  Prince  of  Wagram.  [ 
must  have  omitted  many  who  ought  to  be  named  in  this  enumeration, 
but  enough  have  certainly  been  given  to  show  what  a  cloud  of  witnesses 
and  actors  were  here,  whose  names  have  since  been  celebrated  in  the 
annals  of  their  own  country,  and  which  deserve  a  grateful  mention  in 
ours  to-day.  That  famous  "Field  of  Cloth  of  Gold,"  two  centuries  and 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  8<J 

n  half  before,  when  Francis  1  and  Henry  V I II  met,  in  the  valley  of 
Ardres,  to  arrange  an  ominous  family  alliance,  had  hardly  a  more  im 
posing  rep re.seuta.tion  of  the  nobles  and  notables  of  either  land. 

And  now  all  the  officers  I  have  mentioned,  and  many  more,  French 
and  American,  arc  assembled  with  the  troops  to  which  they  are  at 
tached,  on  this  hallowed  spot,  to  be  met.  and  welcomed,  and  fraternized 
with,  by  at  least  thirty-fivs  hundred  Virginia  militiamen — some  of  them 
under  the  command  of  the  brave  and  excellent  General  WRBDON,  some 
of  them  under  Generals  Edward  Stevens  and  Robert  Lawson,  some  of 
them  tinder  Colonel  Gibson  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Carriugton  of  the 
Artillery,  with  St.  George  Tucker,  afterwards  distinguished  as  an  editor 
of  Blackstone  and  as  a  Judge,  serving  here  as  a  Major  ;  but  all  recog 
nizing,  as  their  Commander-in  Chief,  the  patriotic  and  noble-hearted 
THOMAS  NELSON,  then  Governor  of  the  State.  A  finer  or  firmer  spirit 
did  not  breathe  than  that  of  Thomas  Nelson,  junior,  as  he  was  then 
called,  who  had  served  in  the  Continental  Congress  and  signed  the  Dec 
laration  of  Independence  :  who  had  been  one  of  the  largest  contribu 
tors  to  the  relief  of  Boston  during  her  sufferings  from  the  Port  Bill ;  who 
had  commanded  the  State  forces  of  Virginia  from  1777;  who  had 
pledged  his  personal  credit  to  raise  a  loan  in  1780,  and  had  advanced 
money  from  his  own  pocket  to  pay  two  Virginia  regiments  sent  to  the 
South  for  the  support  of  General  Greene;  who  now,  as  the  Allied 
Armies  approached  Yorktown.  had  been  active  and  untiring,  beyond  all 
other  men,  in  preparing  supplies  of  every  sort  to  support  and  sustain 
them ;  and  who  pointed  the  first  gun  at  his  own  dwelling-house  in  the 
town,  supposing  it  to  be  occupied  by  Cornwallis  or  some  of  his  officers, 
and  ottered  a  reward  of  five  guineas  for  every  shell  which  should  be 
fired  into  it.  Still  another  gallant  Virginian  was  present  at  the  siege- 
no  other  than  Henry  Lee,  "  Light  Horse  Harry,"  as  he  is  called — who 
describes  the  scene  as  an  eye-witness  in  his  "  Memoirs  of  the  War,"  but 
he,  with  his  legion,  was  attached  to  General  Greene's  army  further 
south,  and  here  perhaps,  only  accidentally  and  as  a  spectator.  Thomas 
Nelson,  1  repeat,  was  peculiarly  and  pre-eminently  the  representative  of 
local  Virginia  on  the  day  we  commemorate ;  and  his  name  must  ever 
have  a  proud  and  leading  place  among  the  most  precious  memories 
which  cluster  around  his  native  Yorktown. 

I  said  of  local  Virginia — for  there  was  another  representative  of  the 
Old  Dominion  here,  greater  than  Nelson,  greater  than  any  one  who 
could  be  named,  present  or  absent,  living  or  dead.  I  do  not  forget  that, 
while  America  gave  WASHINGTON  to  the  world,  Virginia  gave  him  to 
America,  and  that  it  is  her  unshared  privilege  to  recognize  and  claim, 
as  her  son,  him  whom  the  whole  country  acknowledges  and  reveres  as 
its  Father ! 

Behold  him  here  at  the  head  of  the  American  Line,  presiding,  with 
modest  but  majestic  dignity,  over  this  whole  splendid  scene  of  the  Sur- 


90  YOKKTOWN    CELEKRATION. 

render !  He  is  now  in  his  fiftieth  year,  and  has  gone  through  anxieties 
and  trials  enough  of  late  to  have  filled  out  the  full  measure  of  three 
score  and  ten.  That  winter  at  Valley  Forge,  those  cabals  of  Conway, 
that  mutiny  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  the  defection  of  Charles 
Lee,  the  treason  of  Benedict  Arnold — with  all  the  distressing  respon 
sibilities  in  which  it  involved  him — the  insufficiency  of  his  supplies  of 
men,  money,  food,  and  clothing,  must  have  left  deep  traces  on  his 
countenance  as  well  as  in  his  heart.  But  he  is  the  same  incomparable 
man  as  when,  at  only  twenty-one,  he  was  sent  as  a  Commissioner  from 
Governor  Diuwiddie  to  demand  of  the  French  forces  their  authority  for 
invading  the  King's  dominions,  or,  as  when,  at  twenty-three,  he  was 
the  only  mounted  officer  who  escaped  the  French  bullets  at  Braddock's 
defeat.  And  here  he  stands  foremost,  among  their  Dukes  and  Marquises 
and  Counts  and  Barons,  receiving  the  surrender  of  the  standards 
under  which  he  had  then  fought  against  France,  as  a  British  colonial 
officer ! 

From  the  siege  of  Boston,  where  he  obtained  his  first  triumph,  to 
this  crowning  siege  of  Yorktown — more  than  six  long  years — he  kas 
been  one  and  the  same ;  bearing,  beyond  all  others,  the  burden  and 
heat  of  our  struggle  for  independence  ;  advising,  directing,  command 
ing  ;  enduring  deprivations  and  even  injustices  without  a  murmur,  and 
witnessing  the  successes  <?f  others  without  jealousy. — while  no  such 
signal  victory  had  yet  been  vouchsafed  to  his  own  immediate  forces  as 
could  have  satisfied  a  heart  ambitious  only  for  himself.  But  his  am 
bition  was  onl}-  for  his  Country,  and  he  stands  here  at  last,  with  repre 
sentatives  of  all  the  States  around  him,  and  with  representatives  of 
almost  all  the  great  Nations  of  the  world  as  witnesses,  to  receive,  on  the 
soil  of  his  own  native  and  beloved  Virginia,  the  surpassing  reward  of 
his  fortitude  and  patriotism.  He  has  many  great  functions  still  to  ful 
fill — in  presiding  over  the  Convention  to  frame  the  Constitution,  and  in 
giving  practical  interpretation  and  construction  to  that  Constitution  by 
eight  years  of  the  first  Presidency.  But,  with  this  event,  the  first 
glorious  chapter  of  his  career  is  closed,  and  he  will  soon  be  found  at 
Annapolis  in  the  sublime  attitude  of  voluntarily  resigning  to  Congress 
the  plenary  commission  he  had  received  from  them,  and  retiring  to 
private  life. 

Virginians!  you  hold  his  dust  as  the  mo.st  precious  possession  of  your 
soil,  and  would  not  let  it  go  even  to  the  massive  mausoleum  prepared 
for  it  beneath  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  which  no  other  dust  can  ever 
fill.  Oh,  let  his  memory,  his  principles,  his  example,  be  ever  as  sacredly 
and  jealously  guarded  in  your  hearts !  No  second  Washington  will  ever 
be  yours,  or  ever  be  ours.  Of  no  one  but  him  could  it  have  been  justly 

said  : 

All  discord  ceases  at  bis  name — 
All  ranks  contend  to  swell  his  fame. 

The  highest  and  most  coveted  title  which  any  man  can  reach — not  in  our 
own  land  only,  or  in  our  own  age  only,  but  in  all  lands  and  in  all  ages* 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  91 

will  still  and  ever  be — that  "he  approached  nearest  to  Washington;" 
and  in  every  exigency  which  may  arise,  the  test  questions  of  patriotism 
will  be,  "What  would  Washington  have  said?"  "  What  would  Wash 
ington  have  done  I  "  The  eloquent  Lamartine  exclaimed,  as  he  so  fear 
lessly  confronted  the  Red  Flag  of  Communism,  thirty-three  years  ago, 
in  Paris:  "The  want  of  France  is  a  Washington."  Our  own  country 
knows  how  to  sympathize  with  such  a  want.  "  While  the  Coliseum 
stands  Rome  shall  stand,"  was  the  familiar  proverb  of  antiquity.  We 
associate  the  durability  of  our  free  institutions  with  no  material  struct 
ure.  Columns  and  obelisks,  statues  and  monuments,  consecrated  halls 
and  stately  capitols,  may  crumble  and  disappear;  the  little  St.  John's 
Church  in  Virginia,  where  Patrick  Henry  exclaimed,  "  Give  me  Liberty 
or  give  me  Death,"  the  old  State  House  in  Boston,  where  James 
Otis  "breathed  into  this  nation  the  breath  of  life" — the  Old  South, 
Faueuil  Hall,  Carpenter's  Hall  and  the  Hall  of  Independence  at  Phila 
delphia,  one  after  another,  may  be  sacrificed  to  the  improvement  of  a 
thoroughfare,  or  fall  before  the  inexorable  elements ;  but  when  the  char 
acter  and  example  of  Washington  shall  have  lost  their  hold  upon  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  when  his  precepts  shall  be  discarded  and  his  prin 
ciples  disowned  and  rejected,  we  may  then  begin  to  fear,  if  not  to 
despair,  for  the  perpetuity  of  our  Union  and  of  our  Freedom.  We  were 
all  Virginians  once,  when  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  signed  their  little  Com 
pact  in  the  cabin  of  the  Mayflower,  and  spoke  of  Plymouth  and  Massa 
chusetts  as  "these  northern  parts  of  Virginia."  We  will  all  be  Vir 
ginians  again,  in  revering  the  Father  of  his  Country,  in  recognizing  him 
as  worthy  to  be  first  forever  in  all  American  hearts,  and  in  thanking 
God  that,  after  so  many  delays,  and  discouragements,  and  trials,  he 
was  privileged  to  find  on  his  native  soil,  a  hundred  years  ago  to-day, 
the  scene  of  his  most  memorable  triumph. 

And  here,  close  at  the  side  of  Washington,  behold  the  only  other 
figure  which  remains  to  be  specially  designated  on  the  field  I  have  at 
tempted  to  depict !  He  stands  proudly  in  the  American  line,  in  which 
he  had  so  long  and  gallantly  served ;  but  he  stands  as  a  representa 
tive  of  more  than  one  land — as  a  living  link  between  two  ;  the  beloved 
La  Fayette !  He  must  have  felt  at  that  moment — he  certainly  had  a  right 
to  feel — that  his  fondest  day-dream  had  been  verified,  .his  most  ardent 
anticipations  fulfilled.  To  the  immediate  consummation  which  he.  was 
now  witnessing,  his  own  compatriots  had  contributed  the  indispensable 
element  of  success,  and  for  their  co-operation  he  had  lent  the  whole 
strength  of  his  influence  and  his  entreaties,  and  had  led  the  way,  at 
every  cost  and  sacrifice,  by  his  personal  example.  He  had  foreseen  the 
result  many  months  before,  and  thanked  Washington  in  one  of  his  let 
ters,  "  for  the  most  beautiful  prospect  which  I  may  ever  behold."  A 
long  and  eventful  career  is  still  before  him,  for  he  is  but  twenty-four 
years  old,  his  twenty-fourth  birthday  having  occurred  during  the  prog 
ress  of  the  siege.  He  hastens  home  to  give  the  name  of  Virginia  to 


!  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

the  daughter  born  after  his  return.  He  is  destined  to  command  armies 
on  his  native  soil.  He  is  destined  to  be  the  subject  of  cruel  imprison 
ment,  and  excite  the  sympathies  of  the  civilized  world.  He  is  to  be 
the  arbiter  of  dynasties,  and  lead  up  u  a  citizen  king"  to  the  throne  of 
France.  He  is  to  revisit  in  triumph  the  land  he  has  aided,  to  be  re 
ceived  with  more  than  regal  honors,  and  to  return  home  to  die  at  last 
with  the  respect  and  affection  of  all  good  men.  But  nowhere  will  he 
stand  more  proudly  than  here,  on  this  field  of  Yorktown,  by  the  side  of 
his  revered  Washington,  exulting  in  the  legitimate  fruits  of  his  own  un 
tiring  efforts.  To  no  scene  of  his  life  did  he  recur  with  more  enthusi 
asm  ;  to  no  place  did  he  come,  during  his  last  visit  to  our  country,  with 
more  eagerness  and  even  ecstasy.  I  have  seen  his  own  private  letter  to 
his  friend,  President  Monroe,  written  at  Yorktown,  on  the  20th  of  Octo 
ber,  1824,  when,  in  company  with  the  Governor  of  Virginia  and  Chief 
Justice  Marshall,  and  Colonel  Huger,  of  South  Carolina — one  of  the 
two  only  surviving  field  officers  of  his  American  Light  Infantry — he 
had  spent  the  forty -third  Anniversary  of  the  Surrender  on  this  spot, 
and  had  been  the  subject  of  that  brilliant  ceremonial  reception,  it 
was  from  the  lips  of  JAMES  MADISON,  not  many  years  afterwards,  and 
but  a  few  years  before  his  death,  under  his  own  roof  at  Montpelier, 
that  I  learned  to  think  and  speak  of  La  Fayette,  not  merely  as  an  ardent 
lover  of  liberty,  a  bosom  friend  of  Washington,  and  a  brave  and  disin 
terested  volunteer  for  American  Independence—leading  the  way,  as  a 
pioneer,  for  France  to  follow — but  as  a  man  of  eminent  practical  abil 
ity,  and  as  great,  in  all  true  senses  of  that  term,  as  he  was  chivalrous 
and  generous  and  good.  Honor  to  his  memory  this  day  from  every 
American  heart  and  tongue,  and  a  cordial  welcome  to  M.  Bureaux  de 
Pusy.  M.  de  Corcelle,  and  to  all  others  of  his  relatives  who  have  ac 
cepted  the  invitation  of  our  Government,  and  whose  presence  on  this 
occasion  is  hailed  with  such  peculiar  satisfaction  and  delight! 

Said  I  not  justly,  Fellow-Citizens,  at  the  outset  of  this  Address,  that 
our  earliest  and  our  latest  acknowledgments  to-day  are  due  to  France, 
for  the  joyous  consummation  which  we  are  assembled  to  commemo 
rate1?  Said  I  not  justly,  that — whatever  confidence  we  may  feel  now, 
or  whatever  assurance  there  was  t'hen,  that  the  ultimate  result  of  the 
American  struggle,  whether  aided  or  unaided,  could  have  been  nothing 
less  than  Independence — our  immediate  success  in  the  arduous  conflict 
was  owing,  under  God,  to  the  assistance  of  that  generous  and  g'allant 
nation?  Never,  never  can  the  fact  be  forgotten  in  the  history  of 
American  liberty,  nor  ever  can  the  obligations  which  were  thus  in- 
curred  be  lost  from  our  most  grateful  recollections.  Nor  do  I  think 
that  France  herself  has  a  page  in  all  her  annals  which  she  would  be 
less  willing  to  obliterate,  least  of  all  in  these  recent  days  when  new 
ties  of  sympathy  have  been  created  between  us  as  the  two  great  sister 
Republics  of  the  world.  Certainly,  if  La  Fayette  himself  could  have 
looked  forward  from  this  field  of  Yorktown  and  foreseen  that,  when 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  93 

this  Centennial  Anniversary  should  be  celebrated  by  the  American 
people,  his  own  beloved  country  would  be  represented  here  by  the  rel 
atives  of  Rochambeau,  and  by  his  own  descendants,  coining  over  as 
citizens  of  a  French  Republic,  he  would  have  felt  that  all  his  heroic 
efforts  and  sacrifices  had  not  been  made  for  the  liberty  of  America 
only.  But  he  did  foresee  it,  as  through  a  glass  darkly,  it  is  true,  for 
many  years,  but  with  a  clearer  and  more  confident  eye  before  he  died. 
Even  at  the  moment  of  the  Surrender  he  wrote,  "  Humanity  has  gained 
its  suit;  Liberty  will  never  more  be  without  an  asylum."  But  at 
Bunker  Hill,  in  1825,  during  his  triumphal  tour,  as  the  guest  of  the  na 
tion,  he  gave  emphatic  expression  to  his  faith,  as  well  as  his  hope, 
when,  after  toasting  "The  resistance  to  oppression  which  has  already 
enfranchised  the  American  Hemisphere/7  he  added,  u  The  next  half 
century's  Jubilee-Toast  shall  be,  TO  ENFRANCHISED  EUROPE  !" 

We  do  not  forget  that  it  was  from  a  Bourbon  Monarch  we  received 
this  aid.  We  do  not  forget  of  what  dynasty  the  vigilant  and  far-sighted 
Vergennes,  and  the  accomplished  but  somewhat  wavering  ISTecker,  were 
Ministers — together  with  the  aged  Maurepas,  over  whose  death-bed  the 
tidings  of  this  surrender  "threw  a  halo."  We  do  not  forget  that  it 
was  in  the  very  uppermost  ranks  of  French  society  that  an  enthusiasm 
for  our  contest  for  freedom  first  caught  and  kindled.  WTe  do  not  forget 
that  it  was  from  the  highest  nobility  of  France  that  so  many  of  her 
brave  soldiers  came  over  to  help  us,  and  went  home,  alas!  to  reap  such 
a  harvest  of  horrors  for  themselves.  We  would  not  breathe  a  word  or 
thought  to-day  in  disparagement  of  those  who  were  the  immediate  in. 
struments  of  our  success  on  this  field.  The  sad  fate  of  Louis  XVI  and 
Marie  Antoinette,  and  of  so  many  of  the  gay  young  officers  who  were 
gathered  here  around  Washington  and  Rochambeau,  a  century  ago, 
cannot  be  recalled  by  Americans  without  emotion,  as  they  reflect  that, 
by  the  very  act  of  helping  us  to  the  establishment  of  republican  insti 
tutions,  they  were  preparing  the  way  for  dethronement,  exile,  or  death 
on  the  scaffold,  for  themselves. 

But  it  is  to  France  that  our  acknowledgments  are  due — to  France, 
then  an  Absolute  Monarchy,  afterwards  an  Empire,  then  a  Constitu 
tional  Monarchy,  again  an  Empire — but  always  France :  TOUJOTJRS  LA 
FRANCE  !  She  has  many  glories  to  boast  of  in  her  history,  glories  in  art 
and  science,  glories  in  literature  and  philosophy,  glories  in  peace  and 
war,  brilliant  statesmen  and  orators  and  authors,  heroic  soldiers  and 
captains  and  conquerors  on  land  and  on  sea;  and  even  in  the  later 
pages  of  that  history,  amid  all  her  recent  reverses,  the  endurance  and 
fortitude  of  her  marvelously  mercurial  people — rising  superior  to  what 
seemed  a  crushing  downfall — have  won  the  admiration  and  sympathy  of 
the  wrorld.  When  I  witnessed  personally,  by  a  happy  chance,  the  removal 
of  the  last  scaffolding  from  that  superb  column  in  the  Place  Vendome, 
restored  in  all  its  original  beauty  as  a  priceless  monument  of  history, 
1  could  not  but  feel  that  the  glories  of  France  were  safe.  When  we  all 


94  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

witnessed,  from  afar,  the  magic  promptness  with  which,  at  the  call  of 
her  late  admirable  President,  TRIERS,  and  almost  as  at  the  touch  of  Midas, 
those  millions  of  gold  came  pouring  into  the  public  coffers  to  provide  for 
the  immediate  payment  of  her  ransom  from  Germany,  we  all  could  not 
fail  to  feel  that  she  had  a  reserved  power  to  reinstate  herself,  as  she  has 
done,  among  the  foremost  nations  of  the  world.  *  Yet  as  her  children, 
and  her  children's  children  for  a  thousand  years,  and  till  time  shall  be  no 
more,  shall  review  her  varied  and  most  impressive  annals,  since  Gaul 
was  conquered  by  Julius  Ca3sar,  down  through  the  days  of  Olovis  and 
Charlemagne,  through  all  her  dynasties,  Merovingian,  Carlovingian  and 
Capetian,  Valois,  Bourbon,  Bonaparte,  or  Orleans,  their  eyes  will  still 
rest,  and  still  be  reveted  with  just  pride,  on  the  brief  but  eventful  story 
of  this  19th  of  October,  1781.  And  as  they  read  that  story,  her  classical 
scholars  will  recall  the  account  which  the  great  Roman  historian,  Livy, 
has  left  us,  of  the  splendid  ceremonial  at  the  celebration  of  the  Isthmian 
games,  when  Titus  Quinctius,  the  Roman  Proconsul  and  General,  hav 
ing  subdued  Philip  of  Macedon,  and  given  freedom  and  independence 
to  Greece,  from  lip  to  lip  the  saying  ran,  and  resounded  over  Corinth, 
in  words  which  might  almost  have  been  written  prophetically  as  well  as 
historically,  '-THAT  THEUEIS  A  NATION  IN  THE  WORLD  WHICH,  AT  ITS 

OWN  EXPENSE,  WITH  ITS  OWN  LABOR,  AND  AT  ITS  OWN  RISK,  WAGED 
WAR  FOR  THE  LIBERTY  OF  OTHERS:  AND  THIS  NOT  MERELY  FOR  CON 
TIGUOUS  STATES,  OR  FOU  NEAR  NEIGHBORS,  OR  F()R  COUNTRIES  THAT 
MADE  PART  OF  THE  SAME  CONTINENT;  BUT  THAT  THEY  EVEN  CROSSED 
THE  SEAS  FOR  THE  PURPOSE,  SO  THAT  NO  U  ^LAWFUL  POWER  SHOULD 
SUBSIST  ON  THE  FACE  OF  THE  WHOLE  EARTH,  BUT  THAT  JUSTICE, 
RIGHT  AND  LAW  SHOULD  EVERYWHERE  HAVE  SOVEREIGN  SWAYr!"* 

More  than  twenty  centuries  divide  the  two  records.  Twenty  centuries 
more  may  hardly  include  their  like  again.  The  two  interventions,  take 
them  for  all  in  all — their  incidents,  their  objects,  their  results — may,  per 
chance,  stand  unique  tore  ver  on  the  respective  pages  of  ancient  and  modern 
history.  Our  own  Republic,  certainly,  with  the  farewell  warn  ing  of  Wash 
ington  in  memory  against  all  entangling  alliances,  and  with  its  jealous  ad 
herence  to  Monroe  doctrines,  is  neither  in  the  way  of  reciprocating  such 
aid,  nor  of  ever  invoking  it  again.  Not  the  less  gracefully  and  fervently, 
however,  may  we  acknowledge  and  celebrate  the  noble  act  of  France? 
and  offer  to  her,  as  we  do  this  day,  in  the  name  of  our  whole  Country, 
and  in  the  name  of  American  Liberty,  a  renewed  assurance  of  the  grati 
tude  which  is  so  justly  her  due,  and  which  no  lapse  of  time  can  ever 
extinguish  in  our  hearts.  Our  commemorative  Column  has  lingered 
indeed,  with  almost  all  the  other  monuments  and  statues  ordered  by 
our  government  in  those  days  of  narrow  resources  and  inadequate  art. 
All  the  more  significantly  and  imposingly  it  will  now  rise,  not  in  mere 
fulfillment  of  the  resolution  of  the  old  Continental  Congress,  but  by  the 
solemn  decree  of  fifty  millions  of  living  people,  with  all  the  accumulated 

~*  Liv.  Hist,  lib.  33. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  95 

arrears  of  gratitude  of  intervening  generations.  "Major,  quo  serior, 
gloria,  ubi  invidia  secessit."  It  will  stand  like  some  stately  century 
plant,  whose  blossoms  attract  the  gaze  and  admiration  of  observers  all 
the  more  intently  Because  they  have  taken  a  hundred  years  for  their 
development: 

Welcome,  welcome,  then,  to  the  representatives  of  France — of  her 
President,  of  her  Army  and  Navy,  and  all  her  Departments — His  Ex 
cellency  M.  Outre.) ,  Colonel  Lichtenstein,  General  Boulauger,  Captain 
ile  Cuverville,  and  the  others  who  have  come  at  the  invitation  of  our 
Government  to  witness  some  of  the  results  of  what  Frenchmen  did  for 
us,  and  helped  us  to  do  for  ourselves,  so  long  ago ;  and  may  peace  and 
good  will  be  perpetual  between  the  land  of  La  Fayette  and  the  land  of 
Washington ! 

With  the  event  which  we  are  commemorating,  the  War  of  the  Ameri 
can  Revolution  was  practically  closed.  A  year  and  a  half  still  remained 
for  General  GREENE  to  display  his  vigilance  and  valor  at  the  South,  and 
for  General  HEATH  and  others  to  control  and  administer  our  posts  at  the 
North,  while  our  commissioners  in  Paris  were  exhausting  all  the  arts 
of  diplomacy  in  arranging  the  formal  Treaty  of  Independence  and  Peace 
with  Great  Britain.  Not  until  the  18th  of  April,  1783,  was  Washington 
able  to  issue  his  memorable  Order  for  the  Cessation  of  Hostilities — a  day 
which,  as  he  said  in  that  order — referring  to  the  first  blood  at  Lexing 
ton  and  Concord — "completes  the  eighth  year  of  the  war."  But  the 
real  consummation  had  been  accomplished  on  this  field.  The  first  blow 
for  independence  dates  from  Massachusetts.  The  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  dates  from  Philadelphia.  But  the  crowning  and 'clinching 
victory  is  forever  associated  with  Virginia,  and  throws  unfading  luster 
upon  these  surrounding  shores  and  plains.  And  thus,  by  a  striking 
coincidence,  the  final  triumphal  scene  of  our  great  revolutionary  drama 
was  reserved  for  the  very  same  shores  and  surroundings  on  which  the 
earliest  American  colonization  was  attempted,  and  at  last  successfully 
accomplished,  under  the  inspiration  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  a  century 
and  a  half  before.  Jamestown  and  Yorktowu  !  How  much  of  the  most 
impressive  history  of  our  country  is  condensed  in  the  names  of  those 
two  neighboring  Virginia  localities — at  this  day,  indeed,  but  little  more 
than  names,  but  always  have  a  place  in  the  same  fond  remembrance 
with  Plymouth  Rock  and  Bunker  Hill ! 

And  now,  fellow-countrymen,  as  we  look  back  at  that  history  at  this 
hour,  and  see  at  what  a  great  price  our  fathers  purchased  for  us  the 
4  freedom  we  are  so  richly  enjoying — at  what  a  cost  of  toil  and  treasure 
and  blood  these  republican  institutions  of  ours  have  been  founded  and 
built  up— can  there  fail  to  come  home  to  each  one  of  our  hearts  a  deeper 
sense  of  our  responsibility,  as  a  people  and  as  individuals,  for  uphold 
ing,  advancing,  and  transmitting  them  unimpaired  to  our  posterity? 
The  century  which  has  rolled  away  since  the  scene  we  commemorate 


96  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

needs  no  review  on  this  occasion.  It  has  made  its  mark  upon  our  land, 
and  written  its  own  history  on  all  our  memories.  The  immense  increase 
of  our  population,  the  vast  expansion  of  our  territory,  the  countless  pro 
ductions  of  our  industry,  the  measureless  mass  of  our  crops,  the  magi 
cal  reduction  of  our  debt,  the  marvelous  prosperity  of  our  people  be 
yond  that  of  all  other  nations  of  the  earth — all  these  are  things  not  to 
boast  of  as  if  they  were  of  our  own  accomplishment,  but  to  recognize 
and  thank  God  for  with  all  our  hearts.  Nor  can  we  of  this  generation 
stand  here  to-day  on  this  Virginia  soil,  beneath  this  October  sun,  with 
out  an  irrepressible  thrill  of  exultation  and  thanksgiving,  that  we  are 
here  as  brothers  from  the  St.  John's  to  the  Kio  Grande,  from  the  Atlan 
tic  to  the  Pacific — all  conflicts  long  over,  and  all  causes  for  conflicts  at 
an  end — fifty  millions  of  people,  all  free  and  equal,  and  all  recognizing 
one  Country,  one  Constitution,  one  Flag,  to  be  cherished  in  every  heart. 
to  be  defended  by  every  hand  ! 

But  it  is  of  our  future,  not  of  the  past  or  even  of  the  present,  that  I 
would  speak  in  the  brief  remnant  of  this  Address.  It  is  not  what  we 
have  been,  or  what  we  have  done,  or  even  what  we  are.  that  weighs  on 
our  thoughts  at  this  hour,  even  to  the  point  of  oppressiveness ;  but 
what,  what  are  we  to  be  f  What  is  to  be  the  character  of  a  second  cen 
tury  of  independence  for  America?  What  are  to  be  its  issues  for  our 
selves?  What  are  to  be  its  influences  on  mankind  at  large?  And 
what  can  we  do,  all  powerless,  as  we  are,  to  pierce  the  clouds  which  rest 
upon  the  future,  or  to  penetrate  the  counsels  of  an  overruling  Provi 
dence — what  can  we  do  to  secure  these  glorious  institutions  of  ours  from 
decline  and  fall,  that  other  generations  may  enjoy  what  we  now  enjoy, 
and  that  our  liberty  may  indeed  be  ua  liberty  to  that  only  which  is 
good,  just,  and  honest7' — a  "  Liberty  enlightening  the  World.'' 

We  cannot,  if  we  would,  conceal  from  others  or  from  ourselves,  that 
all  has  not  gone  well  with  us  of  late,  and  that  there  has  been,  and  still 
is,  in  many  minds  an  anxious,  if  not  a  fearful,  looking  forward  to  what 
is  to  come.  1  do  not  forget  that  other  lands  have  not  been  exempt  from 
simultaneous  and  even  similar  troubles  with  our  own,  and  that  a  con 
tagion  of  crime  and  tumult  seems  to  have  been  sweeping  over  both 
hemispheres  alike.  We  need  not  certainly  make  too  much  of  our  own 
discreditable  deadlocks  at  Washington  or  at  Albany,  while  the  Prime 
Minister  of  England  is  heard  lamenting  that  "  the  greatest  and  noblest 
of  all  representative  assemblies  in  the  world  is  in  some  degree  disabled, 
in  some  degree  dishonored,  by  the  abuse  of  rules  intended  for  the  de 
fense  of  liberty."  But  these  have  not  been  the  worst  signs  of  our  times 
It  was  strikingly  said  by  a  great  moral  and  religious  writer  of  old  Eng 
land,  in  the  last  century,  in  relation  to  his  own  land,  that  "  between  the 
period  of  national  honor  and  complete  degeneracy  there  is  usually  an 
interval  of  national  vanity,  during  which  examples  of  virtue  are  re 
counted  and  admired  without  being  imitated."  Oh,  let  us  beware  lest 
we  should  be  approaching  such  an  interval  in  our  own  history!  Nooiie 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  97 

will  deny  that  there  is  enough  of  recounting  and  extolling  the  great 
examples  of  virtue  and  valor  and  patriotism  which  have  been  left  us 
by  our  fathers.  Voices  of  admiration  and  eulogy  resound  throughout 
the  land.  Statues  and  monuments  and  obelisks  are  rising  at  every 
corner.  There  can  hardly  be  too  many  of  them.  But  vice  and  crime 
peculation  and  embezzlement,  bribery,  corruption,  profligacy,  and  even 
assassination,  alas!  stalk  our  streets  and  stare  up  at  such  memorials 
unrebuked  and  unabashed.  And  are  there  not  symptoms  of  malarias, 
in  some  of  our  high  places  more  pestilent  than  any  that  ever  emanated 
from  Potomac  or  even  Pontiue  marshes,  infecting  our  whole  civil  serv 
ice,  and  tainting  the  very  life-blood  of  the  nation  ? 

Let  me  not  exaggerate  our  dangers,  or  dash  the  full  joy  of  this  occa 
sion,  by  suggesting  too  strongly  that  there  may  be  poison  in  our  cup. 
But  I  must  be  pardoned,  as  one  of  a  past  generation,  for  dealing  with 
old-fashioned  counsels  in  old-fashoued  phrases.  Profound  dissertations 
on  the  nature  of  government,  metaphysical  speculations  on  the  true 
theory  of  civil  liberty,  scientific  dissections  of  the  machinery  of  our  own 
political  system — even  were  I  capable  of  them — would  be  as  inappropri 
ate  as  they  would  be  worthless.  Our  reliance  for  the  preservation  of 
^Republican  liberty  can  only  be  on  the  common-place  principles,  and 
common  sense  maxims,  which  lie  within  the  comprehension  of  the  chil 
dren  in  our  schools,  or  of  the  simplest  and  least  cultured  man  or  women 
who  wields  a  hammer  or  who  plies  a  needle. 

The  fear  of  the  Lord  must  still  and  ever  be  the  beginning  of  our  wis 
dom,  and  obedience  to  His  commandments  the  rule  of  our  lives.  Crime 
must  not  go  unpunished,  and  vice  must  be  stigmatized  and  rebuked  as 
vice.  Human  life  must  be  held  sacred,  and  lawless  violence  and  blood 
shed  cease  to  be  regarded  as  a  redress  or  remedy  for  anything.  It  is 
not  by  assassinating  Emperors  or  Presidents  that  the  welfare  of  man 
kind  or  the  liberty  of  the  people  is  to  be  promoted.  Such  acts  ought  to 
be  as  execrable  in  the  sight  of  man  as  they  are  in  the  sight  of  God. 
The  only  one-man  power  this  country  has  had  to  tremble  at,  is  the  power 
of  some  wretched  miscreant,  seeking  spoils  but  finding  none,  with  a  pistol 
in  his  hand,  to  neutralize  and  nullify  the  votes  of  millions,  and  put  a 
beloved  President  to  torture  and  to  death.  The  rights  of  the  humblest, 
as  well  as  of  the  highest,  must  be  respected  and  enforced.  Labor,  in 
all  its  departments,  must  be  justly  remunerated  and  elevated,  and  the 
true  dignity  of  labor  recognized.  The  poor  must  be  wisely  visited  and 
liberally  cared  for,  so  that  mendicity  shall  not  be  tempted  into  mendac 
ity,  nor  want  exasperated  into  crime.  The  great  duties  of  individual 
citizenship  must  be  conscientiously  discharged.  Peace,  order,  and  the 
good  old  virtues  of  honesty,  charity,  temperance,  and  industry  must  be 
cultivated  and  reverenced.  The  purity  of  private  life  must  be  cherished 
and  guarded,  and  luxury  and  extravagance  discouraged.  Polygamy 
must  cease  to  pollute  our  land.  Profligate  literature  must  be  scorned 
and  left  uupurchased.  Public  opinion  must  be  refined,  purified,  strength  - 
S.  Kep.  1003 7 


98  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

ened,  and  rendered  prevailing  and  imperative,  by  the  best  thoughts  and 
best  words  which  the  press,  the  platform,  and  the  pulpit  can  pour  forth. 
The  pen  and  the  tongue  alike  must  be  exercised  under  a  sense  of  moral 
responsibility.  In  a  word,  the  less  of  government  we  have  by  formal 
laws  and  statutes,  the  more  we  need,  and  the  more  we  must  have,  of 
individual  self-government. 

For,  my  friends,  there  must  be  government  of  some  sort,  and  it  must 
be  exercised  and  enforced.  Cities  and  towns  must  make  provision  for 
all  that  relates  to  cities  and  towns.  States,  which  still  and  always  have 
duties,  which  still  and  always  have  rights,  must  provide  tor  all  that 
justly  relates  to  States.  And  the  general  government  of  the  Union 
must  exercise  its  paramount  authority  over  everything  of  domestic  or 
foreign  interest  which  comes  within  the  sphere  of  its  constitutional  con 
trol.  Civil  service  must  be  reformed.  Elections  and  appointments,  as 
Burke  said,  must  be  made  "as  to  a  sacred  function  and  not  as  to  a 
pitiful  job.'7  The  elective  franchise  must  be  everywhere  protected. 
Public  credit  must  be  maintained  in  city,  state,  and  nation,  at  every 
sacrifice.  Neither  a  gold  nor  a  silver  currency,  nor  both  conjoined — 
neither  mono-metal  isms  nor  bi-metalisms — can  form  any  substitute 
for  the  honesty  and  good  faith  which  are  the  basis  of  an  enduring  pub 
lic  credit.  Our  independent  judicial  system,  with  all  the  rights  and 
duties  of  the  jury-box,  must  be  respected  and  upheld.  The  army  and 
the  navy  must  be  adequately  maintained  for  the  (Jefense  of  our  coasts 
and  commerce  and  boundaries,  and  the  militia  not  neglected  for  domes 
tic  exigencies;  but  Peace,  at  home  and  abroad,  must  still  and  ever  be 
the  aim  and  end  of  all  our  preparations  for  war.  Above  all,  the  Union — 
the  Union  "in  any  event,"  as  Washington  said —  must  be  preserved  ! 

But  let  me  add  at  once  that,  with  a  view  to  all  these  ends,  and  as  the 
indispensable  means  of  promoting  and  securing  them  all,  Universal  Edu 
cation,  without  distinction  of  race,  must  be  encouraged,  aided,  and  en 
forced.  The  elective  franchise  can  never  be  taken  away  from  any  of 
those  to  whom  it  has  once  been  granted,  but  we  can  and  must  make 
education  coextensive  with  the  elective  franchise ;  and  it  must  be  done 
without  delay,  as  a  measure  of  self-defense,  and  with  the  general  co 
operation  of  the  authorities  and  of  the  people  of  the  whole  country. 
One-half  of  our  country,  during  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years,  has  been 
opened  for  the  first  time  to  the  introduction  and  establishment  of  free 
common  schools,  and  there  is  not  wealth  enough  at  present  in  that 
region  to  provide  for  this  great  necessity.  "Two  millions  of  children 
without  the  means  of  instruction"  was  the  estimate  of  the  late  Dr. 
Sears,  in  1879.  Every  year  brings  another  installment  of  brutal  igno 
ranee  to  the  polls,  to  be  the  subject  of  cajolement,  deception,  corruption, 
or  intimidation.  Here,  here,  is  our  greatest  danger  for  the  future.  The 
words  of  our  late  lamented  President,  in  his  Inaugural,  come  to  us  to 
day  with  redoubled  emphasis  from  that  unclosed  grave  on  the  Lake : 
"  All  the  constitutional  power  of  the  Nation  and  of  the  States,  and  all 


YOKKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  99 

the  volunteer  forces  of  the  People  should  be  summoned  to  meet  this 
danger  by  the  saving  influence  of  universal  education."  No  drought 
or  flood  or  conflagration,  no  succession  of  droughts  or  floods  or  confla 
grations,  can  be  so  disastrous  to  our  material  wealth  as  this  periodical 
influx,  these  annual  inundations,  of  ignorance,  to  our  moral  and  politi 
cal  welfare.  Every  year,  every  day,  of  delay  increases  the  difficulty  of 
meeting  the  danger.  Slavery  is  but  half  abolished,  emancipation  is 
but  half  completed,  while  millions  of  freemen  with  votes  in  their  hands 
are  left  without  education.  Justice  to  them,  the  welfare  of  the  States 
in  which  they  live,  the  safety  of  the  whole  Republic,  the  dignity  of  the 
Elective  Franchise,  alike  demand  that  the  still  remaining  bonds  of  ig 
norance  shall  be  unloosed  and  broken,  and  the  minds  as  well  as  the 
bodies  of  the  emancipated  go  free ! 

I  know  whereof  I  speak ;  and  have  certainly  given  time  enough,  and 
thought  enough  to  the  subject,  for  fourteen  years  past,  in  my  relations 
to  a  great  Southern  Trust  to  learn,  at  least,  what  that  Trust  has  done, 
what  it  can  do,  and  what  it  cannot  do.  It  has  been  thus  far  as  a  voice 
crying  in  the  wilderness — calling  on  the  people  of  the  South  to  under 
take  the  great  work  for  themselves,  and  preparing  the  way  for  its  suc 
cessful  prosecution.  It  may  be  looked  back  upon,  one  of  these  days, 
if  not  now,  as  the  little  leaven  which  has  leavened  the  whole  lump.  But 
the  whole  lump  must  be  kneaded  and  molded  and  worked  over,  with 
unceasing  activity  and  energy,  by  every  town,  village,  and  district,  for 
itself,  or  there  will  be  no  sufficient  bread  for  the  hungry  and  famished 
masses.  And  there  must  be  aids  and  appropriations  and  endowments, 
by  Cities  and  States,  and  by  the  Nation  at  large,  through  its  public 
lands,  if  in  no  other  way,  and  to  an  amount  compared  with  which  the 
gift  of  George  Peabody — munificent  as  it  was  for  an  individual  bene 
factor — is  but  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance. 

It  is  itself  one  of  the  great  rights  of  a  free  people  to  be  educated  and 
trained  up  from  childhood  to  that  ability  to  govern  themselves,  which 
is  the  largest  element  in  republican  self-government,  and  without  which 
all  self-government  must  be  a  failure  and  a  farce,  here  and  everywhere ! 
It  is  indeed  primarily  a  right  of  our  children,  and  they  are  not  able  to 
enforce  and  vindicate  it  for  themselves.  But  let  us  beware  of  subjecting 
ourselves  to  the  ineffable  reproach  of  robbing  the  children  of  their 
bread,  and  casting  it  before  dogs,  by  wasting  untold  millions  on  corrupt 
or  extravagant  projects,  and  starving  our  common  schools.  The  whole 
field  of  the  Union  is  now  open  to  education,  and  the  whole  field  of  the 
Union  must  be  occupied.  Free  Governments  must  stand  or  fall  with 
Free  Schools.  These  and  these  alone  can  supply  the  firm  foundation  ; 
and  that  foundation  must,  at  this  very  moment,  be  extended  and  strength 
ened  and  rendered  immovable  and  indestructible,  like  that  of  the  gigan 
tic  obelisk  of  Washington,  if  the  boasted  fabric  of  liberty,  for  which 
this  victory  cleared  the  ground,  is  not  to  settle  and  totter  and  crumble  ! 

Tell  me  not  that  lam  indulging  in  truisms.     I  know  they  are  truisms  ; 


100  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

but  they  are  better — a  thousand  fold  better — than  Nihilisms  or  Com 
munisms  or  Fenniaism,  or  any  of  the  other  isms  which  are  making 
such  headway  in  supplanting  them.  No  advanced  thought,  no  mys 
tical  philosophy,  no  glittering  abstractions,  no  swelling  phrases  about 
freedom — not  even  science  with  all  it  marvelous  inventions  and  discov 
eries — can  help  us  much  in  sustaining  this  Republic.  Still  less  can  any 
Godless  theories  of  Creation,  or  any  infidel  attempts  to  rule  out  the  Re 
deemer  from  his  rightful  supremacy  in  our  hearts,  afford  us  any  hope 
of  security.  That  way  lies  despair!  Commonplace  truths,  old  familiar 
teachings,  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the 
Farewell  Address  of  Washington,  honesty,  virtue,  patriotism,  univer 
sal  education,  are  what  the  world  most  needs  in  these  days,  and  our 
own  part  of  the  world  as  much  as  any  other  part.  Without  these  we 
are  lost.  WTith  these,  and  with  the  blessing  of  God.  which  is  sure  to 
follow  them,  a  second  century  of  our  Republic  may  be  confidently 
looked  forward  to;  and  those  who  shall  gather  on  this  field,  a  hun 
dred  years  hence,  shall  then  exult,  as  we  are  now  exulting,  in  the 
continued  enjoyment  of  the  free  institutions  bequeathed  to  us  by  Our 
fathers,  and  in  honoring  the  memories  of  those  who  have  sustained 
them ! 

It  is  matter  of  record,  fellow-citizens,  that  on  the  day  after  the  Sur 
render  here  had  taken  place,  Washington  issued  his  General  Order  con 
gratulating  the  Army  on  the  glorious  event.  That  Order  concluded  as 
follows:  a Divine  service  is  to  be  performed  to-morrow  in  the  several 
brigades  and  divisions.  The  Commander-in-Chief  recommends  that  the 
troops  not  on  duty  should  universally  attend,  with  the  seriousness  of 
deportment  and  gratitude  of  heart  which  the  recognition  of  such  reiter 
ated  and  astonishing  interpositions  of  Providence  demand  of  us."  Ac 
cordingly,  on  Sunday,  the  21st  of  October,  the  various  divisions  were 
drawn  up  in  the  field  to  offer  "  to  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  the  God  of  Battles/7 
says  the  journalist  Thacher,  "  their  grateful  homage  for  the  preserva 
tion  of  our  lives  through  the  dangers  of  the  siege,  and  for  the  important 
event  with  which  Divine  Providence  has  seen  fit  to  crown  our  efforts." 

The  joyful  tidings  reached  Philadelphia  by  the  hand  of  Colonel  Tilgh- 
man,  at  midnight  of  the  23d,  and  the  next  morning  were  formally  com 
municated  to  Congress,  when  resolutions  were  passed,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Randolph,  of  Virginia,  of  which  the  very  first  was  as  follows : 

Eesolred,  That  Congress  will  at  two  o'clock  this  day  go  in  procession  to  the  Dutch 
Lutheran  Church  and  return  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  crowning  the  Allied  Arms  of 
the  United  States  and  France  with  success,  by  the  surrender  of  the  whole  British  Army 
under  the  command  of  the  Earl  of  Cornwallis. 

Two  days  only  intervened  when,  on  the  26th,  a  Solemn  Proclamation 
was  issued  by  Congress,  acknowledging  "the  influence  of  Divine  Provi 
dence  in  raising  up  for  us  a  powerful  Ally  "j  and  praying  God  u  to  pro 
tect  and  prosper  that  illustrious  Ally,  and  to  favor  our  united  exertions 
for  the  speedy  establishment  of  a  safe,  honorable,  and  lasting  peace." 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  101 

In  France  the  tidings  were  received  with  a  similar  recognition  of  the 
Divine  aid  ;  and  orders  were  sent  out  at  once  by  the  King  for  a  solemn 
Te  Deum  of  thanksgiving  by  his  troops  in  America.  The  King  himself 
wrote  a  special  letter  to  liochainbean,  signed  by  his  own  hand,  and 
dated  at  Versailles,  26th  of  November,  1781,  concluding  with  these  im 
pressive  words:  "In  calling  these  events  to  the  mind,  and  acknowledg 
ing  how  much  the  abilities  of  General  Washington,  your  talents,  those 
of  the  general  officers  employed  under  the  orders  of  you  both,  and  the 
valor  of  the  troops,  have  rendered  this  campaign  glorious,  my  chief  de 
sign  is  to  inspire  the  hearts  of  ail  as  well  as  mine  with  the  deepest  grat 
itude  towards  the  Author  of  all  prosperity  ;  and  in  the  intention  of  ad 
dressing  my  supplication  to  Him  for  the  continuation  of  his  divine  pro 
tection,  I  have  written  to  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  my  Kingdom 
to  cause  Te  Deum  to  be  sung  in  the  churches  of  their  dioceses;  and  I 
address  this  letter  to  inform  you,  that  I  desire  it  may  be  likewise  sung 
in  the  town  or  camp  where  you  may  be  with  the  corps  of  troops,  the 
command  of  which  has  been  intrusted  to  you,  arid  that  you  would  give 
orders  that  the  ceremony  be  performed  with  all  the  public  rejoicings 
used  in  similar  cases,  in  which  I  beg  of  God  to  keep  you  in  his  holy  pro 
tection." 

All  France,  as  well  as  all  America,  was  thus  ringing  and  resounding 
with  the  praise  of  God  for  our  great  deliverance. 

u  Not  unto  us,  not  unto  us,"  was  the  emotion  and  the  utterance  of  the 
whole  American  people,  and  of  all  who  sympathized  with  the  American 
people  of  that  day ;  and  "  not  unto  us,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  Thy  name 
be  the  praise,"  must  still  be  the  emotion  and  the  utterance  of  us  all  as 
we  contemplate  the  completed  century  of  Republican  liberty  which  that 
day  ushered  in.  Commemorative  columns  and  splendid  ceremonials  are 
fit  tributes  of  gratitude  to  the  mortal  or  immortal  men  of  our  own  land 
arid  of  other  lands  who  were  the  instruments  of  achieving  our  inde 
pendence.  But  "Glory  to  God  in  the  Highest"  must  swell  up  from 
every  true  heart  and  lip  at  this  hour  for  what  Washington  well  called 
a  the  reiterated  and  astonishing  interpositions"  which  not  only  carried 
us  through  the  Revolution  triumphantly,  but  which,  during  the  century 
which  has  succeeded  it,  have  overruled  so  wonderfully,  to  our  permanent 
welfare,  events  which  to  human  eyes  seemed  fatal  to  our  prosperity  and 
peace!  The  great  French  historian*  and  statesman,  Guizot,  has  re 
minded  us,  in  that  popular  history  of  his  own  land  to  which  he  devoted 
the  last  labors  of  his  life,  that  in  1776,  before  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  "  the  Virginians  had  adopted,  at  the  close  of  their  procla 
mations,  the  proudly  significant  phrase,  *God  save  the  Liberties  of 
America ! ' 7J  Let  that  Virginia  phrase  be  the  fervent  phrase  of  us  all  in 
all  time  to  come;  and  let  the  legend  we  have  stamped  upon  our  coin, 
and  inserted  in  the  very  eagle's  beak,  be  indelibly  impressed  on  every 
patriotic  heart — "  IN  GOD  WE  TRUST." 


102  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  United  States — Citizens  of  the  old  Thirteen  of 
the  Revolution,  and  Citizens  of  the  new  Twenty-five,  whose  stars  are 
now  glittering  with  no  inferior  luster  in  our  glorious  galaxy — yes,  and 
Citizens  of  the  still  other  States  which  I  dare  not  attempt  to  number, 
but  which  are  destined  at  no  distant  period  to  be  evolved  from  our  im 
perial  Texas  and  Territories — I  hail  you  all  as  brothers  to-day,  and  call 
upon  you  all,  as  you  advance  in  successive  generations,  to  stand  fast 
in  the  faith  of  the  Fathers,  and  to  uphold  and  maintain  unimpaired  the 
matchless  institutions  which  are  now  ours!  "You  are  the  advanced 
guard  of  the  human  race;  you  have  the  future  of  the  world,"  said  Madame 
de  Stael  to  a  distinguished  American,  recalling  with  pride  what  France 
had  done  for  us  at  Yorktowu.  Let  us  lift  ourselves  to  a  full  sense  of 
such  a  responsibility  for  the  progress  of  Freedom  in  other  lands  as  well 
as  in  our  own.  It  is  not  ours  to  intervene  for  the  redress  of  griev 
ances,  or  for  the  establishment  of  Independence  elsewhere,  as  France 
did  here,  with  lleets  and  armies.  But  we  can  and  must  intervene — and 
we  are  intervening,  daily  and  hourly,  for  better  or  worse — by  the  influ 
ence  and  the  force  of  our  example.  Next,  certainly,  to  promoting  the 
greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number  at  home,  the  supreme  mission  of  our 
Country  is  to  hold  up  before  the  eyes  of  all  mankind  a  practical,  well-regu 
lated,  successful  system  of  Free,  Constitutional  Government,  purely  ad 
ministered  and  loyally  supported— giving  assurance  and  furnishing  proof 
that  true  liberty  is  not  incompatible  with  the  maintenance  of  Order,  with 
obedience  to  Law,  and  with  a  lofty  standard  of  political  and  social  Virtue. 
Every  failure  here,  every  degree  of  failure  here,  through  insubordina 
tion  or  discord,  through  demoralization,  corruption,  or  crime,  throws 
back  the  cause  of  freedom  everywhere,  and  presents  our  country  as  a 
warning,  instead  of  as  an  encouragement,  to  the  liberal  tendencies  of 
other  governments  and  other  lands.  We  cannot  escape  from  the  re 
sponsibility  of  this  great  Intervention  of  American  Example •;  and  it  in 
volves  nothing  less  than  the  hope,  or  the  despair  of  the  Ages !  .  Let  us 
strive,  then,  to  aid  and  advance  the  Liberty  of  the  world,  in  the  only 
legitimate  way  in  our  power,  by  patriotic  fidelity  and  devotion  in  up 
holding,  illustrating,  and  adorning  our  own  Free  Institutions.  "  Spartam 
iiactus  es:  Hauc  exorna!"  There  is  no  limit  to  our  prosperity  and 
welfare,  if  we  are  true  to  those  institutions.  We  have  nothing  now  to 
fear  except  from  ourselves.  There  is  no  boundary  line  for  separating 
us,  without  cordons  of  custom-houses,  and  garrisons  of  standing  ar 
mies,  which  would  change  the  whole  character  of  those  institutions. 
We  are  One  by  the  configuration  of  nature  and  by  the  strong  impress 
of  art — inextricably  intertwined  by  the  lay  of  our  land,  the  run  of  our 
rivers,  the  chain  of  our  lakes,  and  the  iron  net-work  of  our  crossing 
and  recrossiug  and  ever  multiplying  and  still  advancing  tracks  of 
trade  and  travel.  We  are  One  by  the  memories  of  our  fathers.  We 
are  One  by  the  hopes  of  our  children.  We  are  One  by  a  Constitution 
and  a  Union  which  have  not  only  survived  the  shock  of  Foreign  and 
Civil  War,  but  have  stood  the  abeyance  of  almost  all  administration, 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  103 

while  the  whole  people  were  waiting  breathless,  in  alternate  hope  and 
fear,  for  the  issues  of  an  execrable  crime.  We  are  One — bound  together 
afresh— by  the  electric  chords  of  sympathy  and  sorrow,  vibrating  and 
thrilling,  day  by  day  of  the  live-long  summer,  through  every  one  of  our 
hearts,  for  our  basely  wounded  and  bravely  suffering  President — bring 
ing  us  all  down  on  our  knees  together  in  common  supplications  for  his 
life,  and  involving  us  all  at  last  in  a  common  flood  of  grief  at  his 
death!  I  cannot  forget  that  as  I  left  President  Garfield,  after  a 
friendl3T  visit  at  the  Executive  Mansion  last  May,  his  parting  words  to 
me  were,  u  Yes,  I  shall  be  with  you  at  York  town."  We  all  miss  him 
and  mourn  him  here  to-day ;  and  not  only  the  rulers  and  people  of  all 
nations  have  united  with  us  in  paying  homage  to  his  memory,  but  Na 
ture  herself,  I  had  almost  said,  has  seemed  to  sympathize  in  our  sor 
row — giving  us  ashes  for  beauty,  and  parched  and  leaden  leaves  on  all 
our  forests,  instead  of  their  wonted  autumn  glories  of  crimson  and 
gold !  But  I  dare  not  linger,  amid  festive  scenes  like  these,  on  that 
great  affliction,  which  has  added,  indeed,  "  another  hallowed  name  to 
the  historical  inheritance  of  our  Republic,"  but  which  has  thrown  a 
pall  of  deepest  tragedy  upon  the  falling  curtain  of  our  first  century. 
Oh,  let  not  its  influences  be  lost  upon  us  for  the  century  to  come,  but 
let  this  very  field,  consecrated  heretofore  by  a  great  surrender  of  for 
eign  foes,  be  hereafter  associated,  also,  with  the  nobler  surrender  to 
each  other  of  all  our  old  sectional  animosities  and  prejudices,  and  let 
us  be  One,  henceforth  and  always,  in  mutual  regard,  conciliation,  and 
affection ! 

"'Go  on,  hand  in  hand,  O  States,  never  to  be  disunited  !     Be  the  praise 
and  the  heroic  song  of  all  posterity !     Join  your  invincible  might  to  do 

worthy  and  godlike  deeds !     And  then "    But  I  will  not  add,  as 

John  Milton  added,  in  closing  his  inimitable  appeal  on  Reformation  in 
England,  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago,  "A  cleaving  curse  be  his  in 
heritance  to  all  generations  who  seeks  to  break  your  Union !"  JSTo  im 
precations  or  anathemas  shall  escape  my  lips  on  this  auspicious  day. 
Let  me  rather  invoke,  as  I  devoutly  and  fervently  do,  the  choicest  and 
richest  blessings  of  Heaven  on  those  who  shall  do  most,  in  all  time  to 
come,  to  preserve  our  beloved  Country  in  UNITY,  PEACE,  and  CONCORD  ! 


THE  STAR  SPANGLED  BANNEK. 

By  the  chorus  under  Professor  Seigel.      Accompaument  by  the  United  States  Marine 

Band. 


The  chairman  of  the  Commission  then  introduced  James  BarTon 
Hope,  esq.,  of  Virginia,  saying : 

Mr.  CHAIRMAN.  I  have  now  the  pleasure  of  introducing  one  of  Vir 
ginia's  most  gifted  sons,  James  Barron  Hope,  esq.,  who  has  been  se 
lected  by  tfie  Commission  to  deliver  the  Centennial  poem. 


104  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 


ARMS    AND  THE    MAN: 

A  METRICAL  ADDRESS   RECITED   ON   THE   HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 

OF  THE  SURRENDER  OF  LORD  CORNWALLIS,  AT  YORKTOWN,  ON 

INVITATION  OF  A  JOINT   COMMITTEE   OF  THE   SENATE 

AND  HOUSE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  CONGRESS, 

'BY  JAMES  BARRON  HOPE,    OF   VIRGINIA. 

[Correspondence  omitted.]     Copyright  secured. 

POEM. 

BY  JAMES  BAR RON  HOPE. 
PRO  LOO- TIE. 

Full-burnished  through  the  long  revolving  years 
The  plowshare  of  a  Century  to-day 
Runs  peaceful  furrows  where  a  crop  of  Spears 
Once  stood  in  War's  array. 

And  we,  like  those  who  on  the  Troad's  plain, 
See  hoary  secrets  wrenched  from  upturned  sods, 
WTho,  in  their  fancy,  hear  resound  again 
The  battle-cry  of  Gods, 

We  now,  this  splendid  scene  before  us  spread, 
Where  Freedom's  fall  hexameter  began, 
Restore  our  Epic,  which  the  Nations  read 
As  far  its  thunders  ran. 

Here  Visions  throng  on  People  and  on  Bard  ; 
Ranks  all  a-glitter,  in  battalions  massed, 
And  closed  around  us  like  a  plumed  guard, 
They  lead  us  down  the  Past. 

I  see  great  Shapes  in  vague  confusion  march 
Like  giant  shadows,  moving  vast  and  slow, 
Beneath  some  torch-lit  temple's  mighty  arch, 
Where  long  processions  go. 

I  see  these  Shapes  before  me  all  unfold, 
But  ne'er  can  fix  them  on  the  lofty  wall, 
Nor  tell  them  save  as  she  of  Endor  told 
What  she  beheld  to  Saul. 

I  see  his  Shape  who  should  have  led  these  ranks — 
GARFIELD  I  see,  whose  presence  had  evoked 
The  stormy  raptures  of  a  Nation's  thanks — 
His  chariot  stands  unyoked! 

Unyoked  and  empty,  and  the  Charioteer 

To  Fame's  expanded  arms  has  headlong  rushed, 

Ending  the  glories  of  his  grand  career, 

While  all  the  world  stood  hushed. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  105 

The  thunder  of  his  wheels  is  done,  but  he, 
Sustained  by  patience,  fortitude,  and  grace — 
A  Christian  Hero— from  the  struggle  free, 
Has  won  the  Christian's  race. 

His  wheel-tracks  stop  not  in  the  Valley  cold, 
But  upward  lead,  and  on,  and  up,  and  higher, 
Till  Hope  can  realize  and  Faith  behold 
His  chariot  mount  in  fire. 

Therefore,  my  Countrymen,  lift  up  your  hearts' 
Therefore,  my  Countrymen,  be  not  cast  down ! 
He  lives  with  those  who  well  have  done  their  pa 
And  God  bestowed  his  crown. 

And  yet  another  form  to  day  I  miss — 
Grigsby,  the  scholar,  good,  and  pure,  and  wise, 
Who  now,  perchance,  from  scenes  of  perfect  bliss, 
Looks  down  with  tender  eyes. 

Where  his  great  friend  through  life,  great  Winthrop,  stands; 
Winthrop,  whose  gift  in  life's  departing  hours 
Went  to  the  dying  Old  Virginian's  hands, 
Who  died  amid  those  flowers.* 

Prayers  change  to  blooms,  the  ancient  Rabbins  taught ; 
So  his,  then,  seemed  to  blossom  forth  and  glow, 
As  if  his  supplicating  soul  had  brought 
Sandalphon  down  below. 

But,  happily,  that  Winthrop  stood  to-day 
The  patriot,  scholar,  orator,  and  sage, 
To  tell  the  meaning  of  this  grand  array 
And  vindicate  an  Age. 

That  Era's  life  and  meaning  his  to  teach, 
To  him  the  parchments,  but  the  shell  to  me ; 
His  voice  the  voice  of  billows  on  the  beach 
Wherein  we  heard  the  sea  : 

My  voice  the  voice  of  some  sequestered  stream, 
Wliich  only  boasts,  as  on  its  waters  glide, 
That  here  and  there  it  shows  a  broken  gleam 
<"»f  pictures  on  its  tide. 

I. 

The  fountain  of  our  story  spreads  no  clouds 
Of  mist ;  above  it  rich  in  purple  glows; 
None  paint  us  Gods  and  Goddesses  in  crowds 
Where  some  Scarnander  flows. 

The  tale  of  Jamestown,  which  I  need  not  gild, 
With  that  of  Plymouth  by  the  world  is  seen, 
But  none  in  visions  fancifully  build 
Olympus  in  between. 


*Hngh  Blair  Grigsby,  LL.  D.,  Chancellor  of  William  and  Mary  College,  and  president  of  the  Vir 
ginia  Historical  Society,  Scholar  and  Historian,  died  on  the  day  on  which  he  received  a  gift  of  flowera 
from  his  life-long  friend  Mr.  Winthrop,  and  these  literally  gladdened  the  dying  eyes  of  the  noble  gen 
tleman,  whose  loss  will  long  be  deplored  by  all  who  knew  him,  whether  they  live  in  Virginia  or  Mas 
sachusetts. 


106  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

At  Jamestown  stood  the  Saxon's  home  aiid  graves ; 
There  Britain's  spray  broke  on  the  native  rock ; 
There  rose  the  English  tide  with  crested  waves 
And  overwhelming  shock. 

Virginia  thence,  stirred  by  a  grand  unrest, 
Swept  o'er  the  waters,  scaled  the  mountain's  crag, 
Hewed  out  a  more  than  Roman  roadway  West, 
And  planted  there  her  flag. 

Her  fortune  was  forewritten  even  then  : 
That  fortune  in  the  coming  years  to  be 
"Mother  of  States  and  unpolluted  men," 
And  nurse  of  Liberty  ! 

Then  'twas  our  coast  all  bore  Virginia's  name  ; 
Next  North  Virginia  took  its  separate  place, 
And  grew  by  slow  degrees  in  wealth  and  fame 
And  Freedom's  special  grace. 


II. 

At  Plymouth  Rock  a  handful  of  brave  souls, 
Full  armed  in  faith,  erected  home  and  shrine, 
And  flourished  where  the  wild  Atlantic  rolls 
Its  pyramids  of  brine. 

There  rose  a  manly  race,  austere  and  strong, 
On  whom  no  lessons  of  their  day  were  lost ; 
Earnest  as  some  Conventicle's  deep  song, 
And  keen  as  their  own  frost. 

But  that  shrewd  frost  became  a  friend  to  those 
Who  fronted  there  the  Ice  King's  bitter  storm, 
For  see  we  not  that  underneath  the  snows 
The  growing  wheat  keeps  warm? 

Soft  ease  and  silken  opulence  they  spurned, 
From  sands  of  silver,  and  from  emerald  boughs, 
With  golden  ingots  laden  full,  they  turned 
Like  Pilgrims  under  vows. 

For  them  no  tropic  seas,  no  slumbrous  calms, 
No  rich  abundance  generously  unrolled  ; 
In  place  of  Cromwell's  proffered  flow'rs  and  palms 
They  fronted  long-drawn  cold. 

The  more  it  blow,  the  more  they  faced  the  gale; 
The  more  it  snowed,  the  more  they  would  not  freeze, 
And  when  crops  failed  on  sterile  hill  and  vale 
They  went  to  reap  the  seas! 

Far  North,  through  wild  and  stormy  brine  they  ran, 
With  hands  a-cold  plucked  Winter  by  the  locks ! 
Masterful  mastered  great  Leviathan ! 

And  drove  the  foam  as  flocks ! 


YORK/TOWN    CELEBRATION.  107 

III. 

Next  in  their  order  came  the  Middle  Group  : 
Perchance  less  hardy,  but  as  brave  they  grew— 
Grew  straight  and  tall,  with  not  a  bend  nor  stoop, 
Heart-timber  through  and  through  ! 

Midway  between  the  ardent  heat  and  cold 
They  spread  abroad,  and,  by  a  homely  spell, 
The  iron  of  their-axes  changed  to  gold 
As  fast  the  forests  fell ! 

Doing  the  things  they  found  to  do,  we  see 
That  thus  they  drew  a  mighty  empire's  charts, 
And,  working  for  the  present,  took  in  fee 
The  future  for  their  marts ! 

And  there,  unchallenged,  may  the  boast  be  made, 
Although  they  do  not  hold  his  sacred  dust, 
That  theirs  the  man  who  never  once  betrayed 
The  simple  Indian's  trust. 

Theirs,  too,  the  genius  which  linked  silver  Lakes 
With  the  blue  Ocean  and  the  outer  world, 
And  the  fair  banner  which  their  Commerce  shakes 
Wise  Clinton's  hand  unfurled. 

IV. 

Then  sweeping  down* below  Virginia's  capes, 
From  Chesapeake  to  where  Savannah  flows, 
We  find  the  settlers  laughing  'mid  their  grapes 
And  ignorant  of  snows. 

The  fragrant  uppowock  and  golden  corn 
Spread  far  a-field  by  river  and  lagoon, 
And  all  the  months  poured  out  from  Plenty's  Horn 
Were  opulent  as  June. 

Yet  they  had  tragedies  full  dark  and  fell- 
Lone  Roanoke  Island  rises  on  the  view, 
And  this  Peninsula  its  tale  could  tell 
Of  Opecancauough. 

Bnt  when  the  Ocean  thunders  on  the  shore, 
Its  waves  though  broken  overflow  the  beach, 
So  here  our  fathers  on  and  onward  bore 

With  English  laws  and  speech. 

Soft  skies  above  them,  under  foot  rich  soils, 
Silence  and  savage  at  their  presence  fled — 
This  Giants'  Causeway,  sacred  by  their  toils, 
Resounded  at  their  tread. 

With  ardent  hearts  and  ever-open  hands, 
Kindly  and  honest,  brave  and  proud  they  grew, 
Their  lives  and  habits  colored  by  fair  lands 
As  skies  give  waters  hue. 


108  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

A  semi-Feudal  state  and  pomp  were  theirs, 
Their  knightly  figures  shiue  in  purple  mist, 
With  ghostly  pennons  flung  from  ghostly  spears 
And  ghostly  hawks  on  wrist. 

By  enterprise  and  high  adventure  stirred, 
From  half-moon  fort  and  sentry-guarded  croft 
They  hawked  at  Empire,  and,  as  on  they  spurred, 
Fate's  falcon  soared  aloft ! 

Fate's  falcon  soared  aloft,  full,  strong,  and  free, 
With  blood  on  talons,  plumage,  beak,  and  breast ! 
Her  shadow  like  a  storm  shade  on  the  sea 
Far-sailing  down  the  West ! 

Swift  hoofs  clang  out  behind  that  Falcon's  flights- 
Hoofs  shod  with  Golden  Horse  Shoes  catch  the  eye  ! 
And  as  they  ring  we  see  the  Forest-Knights— 
The  Cavaliers  ride  by ! 

V. 

Midway  between  the  orange  and  the  snows, 
As  some  fair  planet  rounds  up  fioni  the  sea, 
Eldest  of  all  the  Central  Power  arose 
In  vague  immensity. 

She  stretched  from  Seas  in  sun  to  Lakes  in  shade 
O'erstepped  swift  Rio  Escoudido's  stream — 
Her  bounds  expressed,  as  by  the  Tudor  made, 
An  Alexander's  dream. 

And  liberal  Stuart  granted  broad  and  free 
Bound'ries  which  still  the  annalist  may  boast — 
Limits  which  ran  "  throughout  from  sea  to  sea," 
And  far  along  the  coast ! 

A  mighty  shaft  through  Raleigh's  fingers  slipped 
Smiih  shot  it,  and  a  Continent  awoke! 
For  that  great  arrow,  with  an  acorn  tipped, 
PlaLted  an  English  Oak  ! 

VI. 

Oaks  multiplied  apace,  and  o'er  the  seas 
Big  rumors  went  in  many  a  wid'ning  ring, 
And  stories  fabulous  on  every  breeze 
Swept  to  a  distant  King. 

Full  many  a  tale  of  wild  romance  and  myth 
In  large  hyperbole  the  New  World  told, 
And  down  from  days  of  Raleigh  and  of  Smith 
The  Colonies  meant  gold. 

Not  from  Banchoonan's  mines  came  forth  the  ore, 
But  from  the  waters,  and  the  woods,  and  fields 
Paid  for  in  blood,  and  bringing  more  and  more 
The  wealth  that  labor  yields. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  109 

Then,  seeing  tliis,  that  King  beyond  the  sea, 
The  jus  divinum  filling  all  his  soul, 
Bethought  him  that  he  held  these  lands  in  fee 
And  absolute  control. 

When  this  high  claim  in  action  was  displayed 
With  one  accord  the  young  Plantations  spoke 
And  told  him,  English-like,  they  were  not  made 
To  plow  with  such  a  yoke. 

Thus  met,  not  his  to  falter,  nor  to  flag: 
A  sudden  fury  seized  the  royal  breast — 
Prometheus  Bound  upon  a  Scythian  crag 
His  policy  expressed. 

And  so  he  ordered,  in  those  stormy  hours, 
His  adamantine  chains  for  one  and  all. 
Brute  "Force"  and  soulless  '*' Strength"  the  only  powers 
On  which  he  chose  to  call. 

Great  men  withstood  him  many'a  weary  day; 
In  Press  and  Parliament  full  well  they  strove, 
But  all  in  vain;  for  he  was  sworn  to  play 
A  travesty  on  Jove ! 

Then  blazed  the  crater  and  the  flame  took  wing, 
Furious  and  far  the  lava  raged  around, 
Until,  at  last,  on  this  same  spot  that  King 
His  Herculaiieum  found! 

Breed's  Hill  became  Vesuvius,  and  its  stream 
Rushed  forth  through  years,  a  God-directed  tide, 
To  light  two  Worlds  and  realize  the  dream 
For  which  brave  Warren  died. 

VI. 

Before  this  thought  the  present  hour  recedes, 
As  from  the  beach  a  billow  backward  rolls, 
And  the  great  past,  rich  in  heroic  deeds, 
Illuminates  our  souls! 

Stern  Massachusetts  Bay  uplifts  her  form, 
Boston  the  tale  of  Lexington  repeats, 
With  breast  unarmored  she  confronts  the  storm — 
New  England  England  meets! 

I  see  the  Middle  Group  by  Fortune  made 
The  bloody  Flanders  of  the  Northern  coast, 
And,  in  a  varying  play  of  light  and  shade, 
Host,  thund'rmg,  fall  on  hose! 

I  see  the  Carolinas,  Georgia  mowed 
By  War,  the  Reaper,  and  grim  Ruin  stalk 
O'er  wasted  fields;  but  Guilford  paved  the  road 
That  led  to  this  same  York ! 


110  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Here,  too,  Virginia  in  the  vision  comes 
Full-bent  to  crown  the  battle's  closing  arch; 
Her  pulses  trumpets  ami  her  heart-throbs  drums 
To  animate  her  march  ! 

As  Pocahontas,  acting  for  all  time, 
Leaped  forth  the  wrath  of  Po  what  an  to  brave, 
She  hither  came,  and  here  she  stood  sublime 
To  perish  or  to  save. 

I  see  her  interposing  now  her  frame 
Between  her  sisters  and  the  alien  bands, 
And  taking  both  of  Freedom  and  of  Fame 
Full  seizin  with  her  hands. 

VII. 

But  in  that  iiery  /one    « 

She  upriseth  not  alone, 

Over  all  the  bloody  fields 

Glitter  Amazonian  shields ; 

While  through  the  mists  of  years 

Another  form  appears, 

And,  as  I  bow  my  head, 

Already  you  have  said  :  ^ 

'Tis  France  !     'Tis  France! 
For  'twas  hither  that  she  came 
As  a  Heaven-directed  flame, 
Consecrating  all  this  land, 
Like  a  bolt  from  Jove's  own  hand ! 

Welcome  to  France ! 

From  sea  to  sea ! 

With  heart  and  hand  ! 

Welcome  to  all  within  the  land — 

Thrice  welcome  let  her  be  ! 

And  to  France 
The  Union  here  to-day 
Gives  the  right  of  this  array, 
And  folds  her  to  her  breast 
As  the  friend  that  she  loves  best.  ' 

Yes,  to  France 

The  proud  Ruler  of  the  West 
Bows  her  sun-illumined  crest, 

Grave  and  slow, 
In  a  passion  of  fond  memories  of  one  hundred  years  ago! 

France's  colors  wave  again 

High  above  this  tented  plain,  , 

Stream  and  flaunt,  and  blaze  and  shine, 

O'er  the  banner-painted  brine 

Floal  and  flow ! 

And  the  brazen  trumpets  blow 

While  upon  her  serried  lines 

Full  the  light  of  Freedom  shines 

In  a  broad,  effulgent  glow. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  Ill 

And  here  this  day  I  see 

The  fairest  dream  that  ever  yet  was  dreamt  by  History ! 
As  in  cadence,  and  in  time, 
To  the  martial  throb  and  rhyme 
Of  her  bugles  and  her  drums, 

Forth  a  stately  vision  comes — 
Comes  majestically  slow — 
Comes  a  fair  and  stately  vision  of  one  hundred  years  ago! 

Welcome  to  France ! 

From  sea  to  sea ! 

With  heart  and  hand  ! 

Welcome  to  all  within  the  land! 
Thrice  welcome  let  her  be  ! 
Of  Freedom's  Guild  made  free! 
Welcome !  , 

Thrice  Welcome! 

Welcome  let  her  be  ! 
And  as  in  days  of  old 
Walter  Raleigh  did  unfold 
His  gay  cloak,  with  all  its  hems 
Wrought  in  braided  gold  and  gems, 
That  his  Queen  might,  passing,  tread 
On  the  sumptuous  cloth  outspread, 
And  step  on  the  shining  fold 
Of  fair  samuite  rich  in  gold. 

So  for  France — 

Splendid,  grand,  majestic  France  ! — 
May  Fortune  down  her  mantle  throw 

To  mend  the  way  that  die  may  go! 

May  GLORY  leap  before  to  reap- 
Up  to  her  shoulders  turned  her  sleeves — 

And  FAME  behind  follow  to  bind 
Unnumbered  honors  in  unnumbered  sheaves! 
And  may  that  mantle  fovever  be 
Under  thy  footfall,  oh  France  the  Free! 

Forever  and  forever! 

VIII. 

And  here  France  came  one  hundred  years  ago. 
Red,  russet,  purple  glowed  upon  the  trees, 
And  sunset  glories  deepened  in  their  glow 
Along  the  painted  seas. 

A  wealth  of  color  blazed  on  land  and  wave, 
Topaz,  and  gold,  and  crimson  met  the  eye, 
O.ctober  hailed  the  ships  which  came  to  save 
With  banners  in  the  sky. 

De  Barras  swept  down  from  the  Northern  coast, 
De  Grasse  foam-driving  came  with  favoring  breeze, 
Here  they  surprised  the  proud,  marauding  host 
Like  specters  of  the  seas. 

Then  was  no  time  for  such  a  boastful  strain 
As  Campbell  sang  o'er  Baltic's  bloody  tide, 
Nor  did  Britannia  dominate  the  main 
In  customary  pride. 


112  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

France  closed  this  river,  and  France  ruled  yon  sea, 
Held  all  our  waters  in  triumphant  state, 
Her  sails  foretelling  what  was  soon  to  be 
Like  ministers  of  Fate. 

And  when  the  Union  hymns  her  proudest  Lay 
De  Grasse  is  often  on  her  tuneful  lips — 
And  his  achievement  challenges  to-day 
Some  Homer  of  the  Ships  ! 

So  when  this  spot  its  monument  shall  crown, 
Two  Worlds  upon  its  base  his  name  shall  see. 
With  a  fair  wind  his  story  shall  sail  down 
Through  Ages  yet  to  be ! 


This  on  the  water:  On  the  laud  a  scene 
Whose  Epic  scope  is  far  beyond  my  pow'r, 
For  on  this  spot  a  People's  fate  hath  been 
Decided  in  an  hour. 

Long  was  the  conflict  waged  through  weary  years, 
Counted  from  when  the  sturdy  farmers  fell ; 
Hopes  crucified,  red  trenches,  bitter  tears 
Made  man  another  hell. 

See  pallid  women  girt  in  woe  and  weeds ! 
See  little  children  gaunt  for  lack  of  food  ! 
Behold  the  catalogue  of  War's  black  deeds, 
Where  evil  stands  for  good ! 

See  slaughtered  cattle,  never  more  to  roam, 
Rot  in  the  fields,  while  chimneys  tall  and  bare 
Tell  in  dumb  pathos  how  some  quiet  home 
Lit  up  the  midnight  air! 

See  that  burnt  crop,  yon  choked-up  sylvan  well, 
This  yeoman  slain,  ycorven  in  the  sun! 
Great  God !  Shreds  of  a  woman's  dress  to  tell 
Why  murder  there  was  done  ! 

Such  things  as  these  gave  edge  to  all  the  blows 
Our  fathers  struck  on  this  historic  sod  ; 
Feet,  hands,  and  faces  turned  towards  their  foes, 
Their  valiant  hearts  to  God. 

X. 

Here,  then,  the  Allies  were  arrayed,  and  far 
Flashed  War's  stern  front  o'er  all  the  spreading  ground ; 
Here  our  great  chief,  the  Lion's  path  to  bar 
Dug  trench  on  trench  around. 

And  as  the  Allied  hosts  advance 
All  the  left  wing  is  giv'n  to  France  ; 
Is  giv'n  to  France  and — Fame ! 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  113 

Yes,  these  together  always  ride, 
The  Dioscouroi  of  the  tide 

Where  War  plays. out  the  game! 
And  that  broad  front  'tis  hers  to  hold 
With  hand  of  iron,  heart  of  gold, 

And  helmet  plumed  with  flame. 

Across  the  river  broad  she  sends 
De  Choisy  and  Lauzun,  where  ends 

The  leaguer  far  and  wide ; 
While  Weedon  seconds,  as  he  may, 
Marines  and  troopers  in  array 

Upon  the  Glo'ster  tide. 

As  waves  hurled  on  a  stranded  keel 
Make  all  the  oaken  timbers  reel 

With  many  a  pond'rous  blow, 
So  day  by  day,  aiid  night  by  night, 
The  French,  like  billows  foaming  white, 

Thunder  against  the  foe. 

As  far  rolled  on  that  thunder  swell, 
Far  flew  the  shot,  far  flew  the  shell 

On  parapet  and  mast! 
O'er  town,  and  works,  and  waves  amain, 
Far  tell  grim  Ruin's  driving  rain — 

Red  Havoc  on  the  blast! 

And  as  the  flashing  cannon  sowed 
Their  iron  crop,  brave  Nelson  rode — 

His  bridle-bit  all  foam — 
Up  to  the  gunners ;  and,  said  he : 
"  Batter  yon  mansion  down  for  me — 

Basement,  and  walls,  and  dome! " 
And  better  to  sharpen  those  gunners  wits, 
"Five  guineas,"  he  cried,  "foreach  shot  that  hits!'' 
That  mansion  was — his  home. 

XL 

Behind  the  town  the  sun  sinks  down, 

Gilding  the  vane  upon  the  spire, 
While  many  a  wall  reels  to  its  fall 

Beneath  the  fell  artillery  fire. 

As  sinks  that  sun,  mortar  and  gun, 

Like  living  things,  leap  grim  and  hot, 
And  far  and  wide  across  the  tide 

Spray-furrows  show  the  flying  shot. 

Thick  smoke  in  clouds  yon  earthwork  shrouds, 

Where,  steeped  in  battle  to  the  lips, 
The  French  amain  pour  fiery  rain 

Upon  the  bastions  and  the  ships. 

That  iron  sleet  smites  walls  and  fleet, 

As  closes  in  the  Autumn  night, 
And  Aboville  from  head  to  heel 

Glows  with  the  battle's  wild  delight. 

S.  Rep.  1003 8 


114  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

At  every  flash  oak  timbers  crash. 

A  sudden  glare  yon  frigate  dyes ! 
Then  flames  up-gush,  and  roar,  and  rush 

From  deck  to  where  her  pennon  flies. 

Those  flames  on  high  crimson  the  sky, 
And  paint  their  signals  overhead, 

And  every  fold  of  smoke  is  rolled 
And  woven  in  Plutonian  red. 

All  radiant  now  taffril  and  prow, 

And  hull  and  cordage,  beams  and  spars, 

Thus  lit,  she  sails  on  fiery  gales 

To  purple  seas,  where  float  the  stars. 

Ages  ago  just  such  a  glow 

Woke  Agamemnon's  house  to  joy, 

Its  red  and  gold  to  Argos  told 

The  long-expected  fall  of  Troy. 

So  on  these  heights  that  flame  delights 
The  Allies  thundering  at  the  wall, 

Forewrit  they  see  the  land  set  free, 

And  Albion's  short-lived  Ilium  fall  I 

Then,  as  the  Lilies  turn  to  red, 

Dipped  in  the  battle's  wine, 
Another  picture  is  outspread, 

Where  still  the  figures  shine — 
The  picture  of  a  deadly  fray 

Worthy  the  pencil  of  Vernet ! 

XII. 

On  the  night  air  there  floating  comes  hoarse,  warlike,  low  and  deep, 

A  sound  as  tho'  the  dreaming  drums  were  talking  in  their  sleep. 

"  Fall  in!  Fall  in ! "    The  stormers  form  in  silence  stern  and  grim, 

Each  heart  full-beating  out  the  time  to  Freedom's  battle  hymn. — 

' '  Charge  !  Forward,  men  ! "    The  word  goes  forth,  and  forth  the  stormers  go 

Each  column  like  a  mighty  shaft  shot  from  a  mighty  bow! 

And  tumult  rose  upon  the  night  like  sounds  of  warring  seas; 

Mars  drank  of  the  Horn  of  Ulphus  and  he  drained  it  to  the  lees! 

Now  by  fair  Freedom's  splendid  dreams !    It  was  a  gallant  sight 
To  see  the  blows  against  the  foes  well  struck  that  Autumn  night! 
(Mmat,  and  Fish,  and  Hamilton,  and  Laurens  pressed  the  foe, 
And  Olney — brave  Rhode  Islander! — was  there,  alas,  laid  low! 
Viomesni),  and  Noailles,  and  Damas  stout  and  brave, 
Broke  o'er  the  English  right  redoubt  a  steel -encrested  wave  ; 
St.  Simon  from  his  sick  couch  rose,  wooed  by  the  battle's  charms, 
And  like  a  knight  of  old  romance  went  to  the  shock  of  arms. 

And  there  the  columns  won  the  works!  and  then  uprose  the  cheers 
Which  have  lasted  us  and  ours  for  a  good  one  hundred  years! 
And  there  were  those  amid  the  French  filled  with  a  rapture  stern. 
And  long  the  cry  resounded,  live  the  Regiment  of  Auvergne! 
Long  live  the  Gallic  Army!  and  long  live  splendid  France! 
The  Power  that  gives  to  history  the  beauty  of  romance! 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  115 

But  on  our  right  commanded  one  dearer  by  far  than  all, 

The  Hero  who  first  came  to  us,  and  came  without  a  call, 

His  name  with  that  of  his  Leader's  all  histories  entwine, 

The  one  as  is  the  mighty  oak,  the  other  as  the  vine; 

The  one  the  staff,  the  other  the  rich  pennon  on  its  lance — 

Now,  need  I  name  the  dearest  name  of  all  the  names  of  France? 

Oh,  Marquis  brave,  upon  this  Shaft  deep-cut  thy  cherished  name, 

Twin  "Old  Mortalities,"  shall  find  fond  Gratitude  and  Fame! 

Two  Leaders  watch  the  battle's  tide  and  listen  as  it  rolls, 
And  only  Heaven  above  could  tell  the  tumult  of  their  souls ! 
Cornwallis  saw  the  British  Power  struck  down  by  one  fell  blow — 
A  Gallic  spear-head  on  the  lance  that  laid  the  Lion  low ! 

But  the  Father  of  his  Country  saw  the  future  all-  unrolled; 
Independence  blazed  before  him  written  down  in  text  of  gold  ; 
Like  the  Hebrew  on  the  mountain  gazing  forward  then  he  saw 
The  Promised  Land  of  Freedom  blooming  under  Freedom's  law  ; 
Saw  a  grand  Republic  spurring  in  the  lists  where  Nations  ride 
The  peer  of  any  Power  in  her  majesty  and  pride; 
Saw  that  young  Republic  gazing  through  her  helmet's  gilded  bars 
Toward  the  West  all  luminous  with  the  light  of  coming  stars  ; 
From  Atlantic  to  Pacific  saw  her  banners  all  unfurled — 
Heard  sonorous  trumpets  blowing  Peace  with  all  the  World! 

Roused  from  his  glorious  vision,  with  success  within  his  reach. 
In  few  and  simple  words  he  made  this  long-resounding  speech  : 
" The  work  is  done,  and  well  done! "  thus  spoke  he  on  this  sod 
In  accents  calm  and  measured  as  the  accents  of  a  God — 
A  God,  said  1 1    His  image  rises  on  the  raptured  sight 
Like  Baldur,  wise  and  valiant,  the  Gothic  God  of  Light! 

XIII. 

As  some  spent  gladiator,  near  to  death, 

Whose  reeling  vision  scarce  a  foe  defines, 
For  one  last  effort  gathers  all  his  breath. 

England  draws  in  her  lines. 

Her  blood-red  flag  floats  out  full  fair,  but  flows 

O'er  crumbling  bastions  in  fictitious  state : 
Who  stands  a  siege  Cornwallis  sadly  knows 

Plays  at  a  game  with  Fate. 

Siege  means  surrender  at  the  bitter  end  : 

From  Ilium  downward  such  the  sword-made  rulo, 

With  few  exceptions,  few  indeed,  amend 
This  law  in  any  school. 

The  student  who  for  these  has  ever  sought 

'Mid  his  exceptions  Ctesar  counts  as  one, 
Besieger  and  besieged  he,  victor,  fought 

Under  a  Gallic  sun. 

Great  Vercinget'rix  failed,  but  at  the  wall 

He  strove  and  failed,  but  failed  in  glory's  ways, 

So  that  true  soldiership  describes  the  Gaul 
In  terms  of  honest  praise. 


1  1  6  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

i 
But  there  was  not  a  Caesar  in  the  lines 

/       'Round  which  our  Chief  the  fatal  leaguer  drew  ; 
The  nohle  Earl,  though  valiant,  never  shines 
'Mid  War's  majestic  few. 

By  hopes,  and  fears,  and  agonies  long  tossed — 

Clinton  hard-fixed  in  method's  rigid  groove — 

The  British  Leader  saw  the  game  was  lost, 
But,  yet,  it  had  one  move. 

Could  he  attain  yon  spreading  Glos'ter  shore — 

Could  he  and  his  cross  York's  majestic  tide — 

He  then  might  laugh  to  scorn  the  cannon's  roar 
And  far  for  safety  ride. 

Bold  was  the  plan  !  and  generous  Light  Horse  Lee 
Gives  it  full  measure  of  unstinted  praise; 

But  Providence  declared  this  should  not  be, 
In  its  own  wondrous  ways. 

Loud  roared  the  storm  !     The  rattling  thunders  rang  ! 

Against  the  blast  his  rowers  could  not  row  : 
While  waves,  like  hoary-headed  Homers,  sang 

Hexameters  of  woe ! 

XIV. 

There  came  the  time  to  end  the  tragic  play, 

To  drop  the  curtain  and  to  quench  the  lamps, 

And  soon  the  story  took  its  jocund  way 
Through  all  the  Allied  camps. 

Measure  for  measure  there  was  righteous  law. 

The  cup  of  Lincoln  bowed  Comwallis  pressed  ; 

And,  as  he  drank,  the  wondering  Nations  saw 
A  sunrise  in — the  West ! 

Death  fell  upon  the  Royal  cause  that  day  ; 

The  King  stood  like  Swift's  oak,  with  blighted  crest, 
Head-piece  and  crown  both  clefc,  he  drooped  away — 

Hie  jacet — tells  the  rest. 

And  patriots  stood  where  "traitors"  late  were  jeered — 

Transformed  from  "rebels"  into  freemen  bold, 
What  seemed  Mambrino's  helmet  now  appeared 
A  real  helm  of  gold  ! 

XV. 

Then  came  the  closing  scene  :  but  shall  I  paint 

The  scarlet  column,  sullen,  slow,  and  faint, 

Which  marched  with  "  colors  cased"  to  yonder  field, 

Where  Britain  threw  down  corselet,  sword,  and  shield  ? 

Shall  I  depict  the  anguish  of  the  brave 

Who  envied  comrades  sleeping  in  the  grave  ? 

Shall  I  exult  o'er  inoffensive  dust 

Of  valiant  men  whose  swords  have  turned  to  rust  ? 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  117 


Shall  I,  like  Meneleus  by  the  coast, 

O'er  dead  Ajaces  make  unmanly  boast  ? 

Shall  I,  in  strains  of  an  ignoble  verse, 

Degrade  dead  Hectors,  and  their  pangs  rehearse  ? 

No !  such  is  not  the  mood  this  people  feels  ; 

Their  chariots  drag  no  foemaii  by  the  heels! 

Let  Ajax  slumber  by  the  sounding  sea, 

From  the  fell  passion  of  his  madness  free! 

Let  Hector's  ashes  unmolested  sleep— 

But  not  to-day  shall  any  Priam  weep! 

Superb  in  white  and  red,  and  white  and  gold, 
And  white  and  violet,  the  French  unfold 
Their  blazoned  banners  on  the  Autumn  air, 
While  cymbals  clash  and  brazen  trumpets  biare. 
Steeds  fret  and  foam,  and  spurs  with  scabbards  clank, 
As  far  they  form  in  many  a  shining  rank : 
Deux-Ponts  is  there,  as  hilt  to  sword-blade  true  ; 
And  Guvion  rises  smiling  on  the  view  j 
And  the  brave  Swede,  as  yet  untouched  by  Fate, 
Rides  'mid  his  comrades  Avith  a  mien  elate: 
And  Duportail — and  scores  of  others  glance 
Upon  the  scene ;  and  all  are  worthy  France ! 

And  for  those  Frenchmen  and  their  splendid  bauds 
The  very  centuries  shall  clap  their  hands, 
While  at  their  head,  as  all  their  banners  flow, 
And  all  their  drums  roll  out  and  trumpets  blow, 
Rides  first  and  foremost  splendid  Rochambeau! 
And  well  he  rides,  worthy  an  Epic  rhyme — 
Full  well  he  rides  in  attitude  sublime — 
Fair  Freedom's  Champion  in  the  lists  of  Time ! 

In  hunt  ing-shir  tsf  or  faded  blue  and  buff, 

And  many  clad  in  simple  rustic  stuff, 

Their  ensigns  torn,  but  held  by  Freedom's  hand, 

In  serried  lines  the  Continentals  stand. 

They  boast  no  music's  blood-bestirring  charms; 

Their  only  ornaments  their  shining  arms: 

But  these,  all  ignorant  of  stain  or  rust, 

Like  silver  shine  through  sun-illumined  dust. 

Precision  theirs,  if  not  a  martial  grace, 

Each  heart  triumphant,  but  composed  each  face, 

Well  taught  in  military  arts  by  brave  Steubeu, 

With  port  of  soldiers,  majesty  of  men. 

All  Fathers  of  their  country — like  a  Avail, 

They  march  to  see  Britannia's  banner  fall. 

Well  taught  were  they  by  one  who  learned  Wars  trade 
From  Frederick,  whom  not  Ruin's  self  dismayed ; 
Well  taught  by  one  who  never  lost  the  heat 
Caught  on  the  anvil  where  all  Europe  beat, 
But  be. at  in  vain,  in  those  prodigious  years 
When  Prussia's  only  crops  were— men  and  spears! 
And  to  the  gallant  race  of  Steuben's  name, 
That  long  has  held  close  intercourse  with  Fame, 
This  grand  Republic  bows  her  lofty  crest, 


118  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

And  takes  his  kinsmen  to  her  ample  breast ; 
At  fray,  or  festival,  on  march,  or  halt, 
Von  Steubeu  always  far  above  the  salt ! 

Tho  brave  young  Marquis,  second  but  to  one, 
For  whom  he  felt  the  reverence  of  a  son, 
Rides  at  the  head  of  his  division  proud — 
A  ray  of  glory  painted  on  the  cloud ! 
"  Mad  Anthony  "  is  there !    And  Knox— but  why 
Ureat  names  like  battle-flags  attempt  to  fly  ? 
Who  sings  of  skies  lit  up  by  Jove  and  Mars 
Thinks  not  to  chant  a  catalogue  of  stars! 
I  bow  me  low,  and  bowing  low  I  pass, 
Unnumbered  heroes  in  unnumbered  mass, 
While  at  their  head,  in  grave  and  sober  state, 
Rides  one  wh#m  Time  has  found  supremely  great, 
Master  of  Fortune  and  the  match  of  Fate  J 

Then  Tilghman,  mounted  , on  these  plains  of  York, 
Swift  sped  away,  as  speeds  the  homing  hawk! 
And  soon  'twas  his  to  make  that  watchman's  cry 
Which  woke  all  Nations  and  shall  never  die! 

XVI. 

Krave  was  the  foeman,  but  foredoomed  his  cause  ; 
He  fought  against  the  spirit  of  his  laws, 
And  fought  in  vain ;  for  on  those  fields  went  down 
The./tfS  divimtm  and  the  kingly  crown. 

lint  for  those  scenes  Time  long  has  made  amend*. 
The  ancient  enemies  are  present  friends  : 
Two-  swords  in  Massachusetts,  rich  in  dust, 
And,  better  still,  the  peacefulness  of  rust, 
Told  the  whole  story  in  its  double  parts 
To  one  who  lives  in  two  great  nations'  hearts*. 
And  late  above  Old  England's  roar  and  din 
slow-tolling  bells  spoke  sympathy  of  kin  : 
Victoria's  wreath  blooms  on  the  sleeping  breast 
Of  him  just  gone  to  his  reward  and  rest. 
And  firm  and  fast  between  two  mighty  Powers 
New  treaties  live  in  those  undying  flowers. 

Turned  back  my  gaze  :  on  Spam's  romantic  shore 
1  see  Gaul  give  his  last  salute  to  Moor ; 
And,  later  still,  the  page  of  Fame  I  scan 
To  see  brave  France  at  deadly  Inkermau, 
While  on  red  Balaklava's  field  I  hear 
Pallia's  applause  swell  Albion's  ringing  cheer, 

England  and  France,  as  Allies,  side  by  side 
Fought  on  the  Pieho's  melancholy  tide. 
And  there,  brave  Tattnall,  ere  the  fight  was  done, 
Stirred  English  hearts  as  far  as  shone  the  sun, 
Or  tides  and  billows  in  their  courses  run. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  119 

That  day  'mid  the  dark  Pieho's  slaughter 
He  said:  " Blood  is  thicker  titan  water!" 
And  your  true  man,  through  "brayed  in  a  inortar" 

At  feast  or  at  fray 

Will  still  feel  it  and  say, 
As  he  said,  "  Blood  is  thicker  than  water ! " 

And  full  homely  is  the  saying,  but  the  story  always  starts 

An  answer  from  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  kindred  hearts. 

Then  let  us  pray  that  as  the  sun  shines  ever  on  the  sea 

Fair  Peace  forevermore  may  smile  npon  the  Splsndid  Three ! 

May  happy  France  see  purple  grapes  aglow  on  all  her  hills, 

And  England,  breast-deep  in  her  corn,  laugh  back  the  laugh  of  rills! 

May  this  fair  land  to  which  all  roads  lead  as  the  roada  of  Rome 

Led  to  th'  eternal  city's  gates,  still  offer  Man  a  home — 

A  home  of  peace  and  plenty,  and  of  freedom,  and  of  ease, 

With  all  before  him  where  to  choose  between  the  shining  seas! 

May  the  war-cries  of  the  Captains  yield  to  happy  reapers'  shouts, 

And  the  clover  whiten  bastions  and  the  olive  shade  redoubts! 

XVII. 

At  last  our  fathers  saw  the  treaty  sealed  ; 

Victory  unhelmed  her  broad,  majestic  brow ; 
The  sword  became  a  sickle  in  the  field ; 

The  war-horse  drew  the  plow. 

There  is  a  time  when  men  shape  for  their  land, 

Its  institutions,  'mid  some  tempest's  roar, 
Just  as  the  waves  which  thunder  on  the  strand 

Shape  out  and  round  the  shore. 

Then  comes  a  day  when  institutions  turn 

And  shape  the  men,  or  cast  them  into  molds ; 

One  Era  trembles  while  volcanoes  burn, 
Another  Age  beholds 

The  hardened  lava  turned  to  hills  and  leas, 

Far-blooming  glebes,  with  orchards  intermixed; 

Vineyards  which  look  far  out  o'er  purple  seas 
And  deep  foundations  fixed. 

So  when  fell  Chaos,  like  a  baleful  Fate, 

What  we  had  won  seemed  bent  to  snatch  away, 

Sound  thinkers  rose,  who  fashioned  out  the  State 
As  potters  fashion  clay. 

Of  those  great  names  I  may  record  but  few  ; 

For  he  who  sees  the  ocean  white  with  sails. 
And  pictures  each,  confuses  all  the  view — 

He  paints  too  much,  and  fails- 

His  canvas  shows  no  high,  emphatic  light, 

Its  shadows  in  full  mass  refuse  to  fall, 
And,  as  its  broken  details  vex  the  sight, 

Men  turn  it  to  the  walL 


120  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Of  those  great  names  but  few  may  pass  my  lips, 
For  he  who  speaks  of  Salamis  then  sees— 

Not  those  who  there  commanded  Grecian  ships, 
But  grand  Thomistocles ! 

Yet,  some  I  mark,  and  these  discreetly  take, 

To  grace  my  Verse,  through  duty  and  design, 

As  one  notes  barks  that  leave  the  broadest  wake 
Upon  the  stormy  brine. 

XVIII. 

They  rise  before  me !  and  there  Mason  stands — 
The  Constitution  maker — firm  and  bold, 

Like  Bernal  Diaz  planting  with  kind  hands 
Fair  trees  is  blaze  in  gold. 

And  'mid  the  lofty  group  sedate  I  see 

Great  Franklin  muse  where  Truth  had  locked  her  stoiv«. 
Holding  within  his  steady  hand  the  key 

That  opened  many  doors. 

Aud  Trumbull,  strong  as  hammered  steel  of  old, 

Stands  boldly  out  in  clear  and  high  relief — 

His  soul  unbending,  and  his  heart  of  gold — 
He  never  failed  his  chief! 

Aud  Robert  Morris  glides  into  my  Verse, 

Who  from  the  stones  contrived  to  render  bread — 

Who  filled  the  young  Republic's  slender  purse 
When  Credit's  self  seemed  dead. 

Tylers,  I  see — sprung  from  the  sturdy  Wat, 

A  strong-armed  rebel  of  an  ancient  date — 

With  Falkland-Gary's  come  to  draw  the  lot 
Cast  in  the  helm  of  Fate. 

And  Marshall  in  his  ermine,  white  as  snow, 

Wise  and  profound  Fame,  often  loves  to  draw  :— 

His  noble  function  on  the  Bench  to  show 
That  Reason  is  the  Law. 

And  Madison,  who,  with  incessant  toil, 

Laid  deep  foundations,  working  day  and  night — 

Foundations  blessed  by  fruitful  corn  and  oil — 
Uprises  on  the  sight. 

His  sword  unbuckled  and  his  brows  unbent, 
The  upright  Hamilton  again  appears, 

And  in  fair  Freedom's  mighty  Parliament 
He  marches  with  the  Peers ! 

Henry  is  there  beneath  his  civic  crown : 

He  speaks  in  words  that  thunder  as  they  flow, 

And  as  he  speaks  his  thunder-tones  bring  down 
An  avalanche  below! 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  121 

Nor  does  John  Adams  in  the  picture  lag; 

He  was  as  bold,  as  resolute,  and  free 
As  is  the  eagle  on  a  misty  crag 

Above  a  stormy  sea. 

And  'mid  his  fellows  in  those  days  of  need, 

Impassioned  Jefferson  burns  like  a  sun — 
The  New  World's  Prophet  of  the  New  World's  Creed, 

Prophet  and  Priest  in  one ! 

These  two  are  taken  by  a  patriot's  mind 

As  kindred  types  of  our  great  Saxon  stock, 
And  that  same  thinker  hopes  some  day  to  find 

Both  statues  in  one  block. 

XIX.     ' 

But  here  I  number  splendid  names  too  fast ! 

Heroes  and  sages  throng  behind  this  group ; 
And  thick  they  come  as  came  in  Homer's  past 
A  Goddess  and  her  troop. 

And  as  that  troop,  'mid  frays  and  fell  alarms, 

Swept  all  a-glitter  on  their  mission  bent, 
And  bore  from  Vulcan  the  resplendent  arms 

To  great  Achilles  sent, 

So  came  the  names  which  light  my  pious  Song, 

Came  bearing  Union  forged  in  high  debates — 

A  sun-illuminated  shield,  and  strong 
To  guard  these  mighty  States. 

The  shield  sent  to  the  son  of  Peleus  glowed 

In  hammered  wonders,  all  without  a  flaw  ; 
The  shield  of  Union  in  its  splendors  show-ed 

The  Compromise  of  Law. 


Achilles  came  from  Homer's  Jove-like  brain, 

Pavilioned  'mid  his  ships  where  Thetis  trod; 

But  he  whose  image  dominates  this  plain 
Came  from  the  hand  of  God. 

Yet  of  his  life,  which  shall  all  time  adorn, 

I  dare  not  sing ;  to  try  the  theme  would  be 

To  drink,  as  'twere,  that  Scandinavian  Horn 
Whose  tip  was  in  the  sea. 

I  bow  my  head  and  go  upon  my  ways. 

Who  tells  that  story  can  but  gild  the  gold  ; 
Could  I  pile  Alps  on  Apennines  of  praise, 
The  tale  would  not  be  told. 

Not  his  the  blade  which  Lyric  fables  say 

Cleft  Pyrenees  from  ridge  to  nether  bed  ; 

But  his  the  sword  that  cleared  the  Sacred  Way 
For  Freedom's  feet  to  tread. 


12*2  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Not  Caesar's  genius  nor  Napoleon's  skill 

Gave  him  proud  mast'ry  o'er  the  trembling  earth, 

But  great  in  honesty,  and  sense,  and  will, 
He  was  the  "man  of  worth." 

He  knew  not  North,  nor  South,  nor  West,  nor  East : 
Childless  himself,  Father  of  States  he  stood, 

Strong  and  sagacious  as  a  Knight  turned  Priest, 
And  vowed  to  deeds  of  good. 

Compared  with  all  Earth's  heroes  I  may  say 

He  stood,  with  even  half  his  virtues  hid, 

Greater  in  what  his  hand  refrained  than  they 
Were  great  in  what  they  did. 

And  thus  his  image  dominates  all  time, 
Uplifted  like  the  everlasting  dome 

Which  rises  in  a  miracle  sublime 
Above  eternal  Rome. 

On  Rome's  once  blooming  plain  where'er  we  stray 
That  dome  majestic  rises  on  the  view, 

Its  Cross  a-glow  with  every  wandering  ray 
That  shines  along  the  Blue. 

So  his  vast  image  shadows  all  the  lands, 
So  holds  forever  Man's  adoring  eye, 

And  o'er  the  Union  which  he  left,  it  stands 
Our  Cross  against  the  sky  ? 

XXI. 

My  Harp  soon  ceases ;  but  I  here  allege 

Its  strings  are  in  my  heart  and  tremble  there, 

Its  dying  strain  shall  swell  a  claim  and  pledge — 
A  claim,  a  pledge,  a  prayer ! 

I  stand,  as  stood  in  storied  days  of  old, 

Vasco  Balboa  staring  o'er  bright  seas 

When  fair  Pacific's  tide  of  limpid  gold 
Surged  up  against  his  knees. 

For  haughty  Spain,  her  banner  in  his  hand, 

He  claimed  a  New  World,  sea,  and  plain,  and  crag- 

I  claim  the  Future's  Ocean  for  this  land, 
And  here  I  plant  her  flag ! 

Float  out,  oh  flag,  from  Freedom's  burnished  lance ! 

Float  out,  oh  flag,  in  Red,  and  White,  and  Blue ! 
The  Union's  colors  and  the  hues  of  France 

Commingled  on  the  view ! 

Float  out,  oh  flag,  and  all  thy  splendors  wake ! 

Float  out,  oh  flag,  above  our  Hero's  bed ! 
Float  out,  oh  flag,  and  let  thy  blazon  take 

New  glories  from  the  dead ! 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  123 

Float  out,  oh  flag,  o'er  Freedom's  noblest  types ! 

Float  out,  oh  flag,  all  free  of  blot  or  stain  ! 
Float  out,  oh  flag,  the  "  Roses"  in  thy  stripes 

Forever  blent  again ! 

Float  out,  oh  flag,  aud  float  in  every  clime ! 

Float  out,  oh  flag,  and  blaze  on  every  sea! 
Float  out,  oh  flag,  and  float  as  long  as  Time 

And  Space  themselves  shall  be ! 

Float  out, oh  flag, o'er  Freedom's  onward  inarch! 

Float  out,  oh  flag,  in  Freedom's  starry  sheen ! 
Float  out,  oh  flag,  above  the  Union's  arch, 

Where  Washington  is  seen ! 

Float  out,  oh  flag,  above  a  smiling  Land ! 

Float  out,  oh  flag,  above  a  peaceful  sod ! 
Float  out,  oh  flag,  thy  staff"  within  the  hand 

Beneficent  of  God! 

XXII. 

An  ancient  Chronicle  has  told 
That,  in  the  famous  days  of  old, 

In  Antioch  under  ground 

The  self-same  lance  was  found — 

Unbitten  by  corrosive  rust — 
The  lance  the  Roman  soldier  thrust 

In  CHRIST'S  bare  side  upon  the  Tree, 

And  that  it  brought 

A  mighty  spell 

To  those  who  fought 

The  Infidel, 

And  mighty  victory. 

And  so  this  day 

To  you  I  say — 
Speaking  for  millions  of  true  Southern  men- 

In  words  that  have  no  undertow — 

I  say,  and  say  ageu, 

Come  weal  or  woe, 

Should  this  Republic  ever  fight, 

By  land,  or  sea, 
For  present  law  or  ancient  right, 

The  South  will  be 

As  was  that  lance, 

Albeit  not  found 

Hid  under  ground, 
But  in  the  forefront  of  the  first  advance ! 

'Twill  fly  a  pennon  fair 
As  ever  kissed  the  air ; 
On  it,  for  every  glauce, 
Shall  blaze  majestic  France 
Blent  with  our  Hero's  name 
In  everlasting  flame, 


124  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

And  written,  fair  in  gold, 

This  legend  on  its  fold  : 

Give  us  back  the  ties  of  Yorktown  ! 

Perish  all  the  modern  hates ! 
Let  us  stand  together  Brothers 

In  defiance  of  the  Fates, 
For  the  safety  of  the  Union 

Is  the  safety  of  the  States ! 


OVERTURE 

By  Dod\vx>rfch's  Thirteenth  Regiment  Band  of  the  National    Guard  of  the  State  of 

New  York. 


The  Hon.  JAMES  G.  ELAINE,  Secretary  of  State,  then  read  the  fol 
lowing-  order  of  the  President: 

ORDER  OF  THE  PRESIDENT  DIRECTING  A  SALUTE  TO  THE  BRITISH  FLA  (,'. 
Read  by  Hon.  JAMES  G.  BLAINE,  Secretary  of  State. 

In  recognition  of  the  friendly  relations  so  long  and  so  happily  sub 
sisting  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  in  the  trust  and 
confidence  of  peace  and  good- will  between  the  two  countries  for  all  the 
centuries  to  come,  and  especially  as  a  mark  of  respect  for  the  illustrious 
sovereign  and  gracious  lady  who  sits  upon  the  "British  throne,  it  is 
hereby  ordered  that  at  the  close  of  these  ceremonies  commemorative  of 
the  valor  and  success  of  our  forefathers  in  their  patriotic  struggle  for 
independence,  the  British  flag  shall  be  saluted  by  the  forces  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  of  the  United  States  now  at  Yorktown.  The  Secretary  of 
War  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  will  give  orders  accordingly. 

CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR. 
By  the  President: 

JAMES  G.  BLAINE, 

Secretary  of  State. 


RECEPTION  BY  THE  PRESIDENT. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremonies  a  reception  was  held  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  honor  of  the  guests  of  the  Nation, 
at  La  Fayette  Hall. 

In  the  evening  the  guests  were  invited  to  participate  in  a  promenade 
concert  and  hop  at  La  Fayette  Hall. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  3  25 


4  P.  M. 
GRAND  CONCERT.  mim., 

AT    (.HAND    STAND    MONUMENT    SITE,    BY    DODWORTIl'S   THIRTEENTH    KI-HJIMEXT   BAN] 
NEW     YORK.       HARVEY     B.    DODWORTH, 

PART  I. 

1.  MARCH— "Virginia" 

2.  OVERTURE— "Rienzi" 

:5.  MORCEAU— "The  ]S7ightingale" ..Bartws. 

(An  Idyl  for  the  Piccolo.)     Signer  A.  Noziglia. 

4.  SOLO  (Cornet) — "Casta  Diva"— Nonna Bellini. 

Signer  A.  Liberati. 
:>.  COLLOCATION—"  A  Day  in  Camp  " -  -  Dodirorlh . 

Being  an  adaptation  of  the  following  Army  songs  and  calls:  "All's  Well,"  "Tenting  on 
the  Old  Camp  Ground,"  "Oft  in  the  Stilly  Night,"  "Reveille,"  "  The  Battle  Cry  of  Freedom." 
"The  Assembly,"  "Benny  Havens,  Oh,"  "  Glory  Hallelujah,"  "Breakfast  Call,"  "Kingdom 
Coming,"  "  Various  Camp  Calls,"  "Tramp,  Tramp,  Tramp  "  Mess  Call— "Roast  Beef,"  "In 
the  Louisiana  Lowlands,"  "Dress  Parade  and  Review,"  "Retreat,"  "Marching  Through 
Georgia,"  "Tattoo."  "Annie  Laurie,"  "LightsOut."  Finale— ""When  Johnny  Conies  March 
ing  Home,  "  Three  Cheers  for  the  Red,  AVhite,  and  Blue,"  &c.,  and  "  To.  the  Colors." 

PART  II. 

f>.  COLLOCATION—"  Reminiscences" From  Meyerbeer. 

Improvising  gems  ft  em  "L'Africaine,"  "Le  Prophete,"  "L'Etoile  du  Nord,"  "  Pardon  de 
Ploermel,"  "Robert  Le  Diable,"  and  "Lea  Huguenots."  The  Solos  by  Messrs.  Leiferth. 
Auld,  and  Gore. 

7.  SOLO— (Euphonium)— "  Theme  and  Variations  " -  - Raffayolo. 

Signor  Raifayolo. 
s.  SOLO— (Flute) — "Theme  and  Variations,"  "Spring,  Gentle  Spring ".L.  De  Carlo. 

I).  SOLO— (Cornet) — Grand  Fautasie Hartman . 

Sign  or  A.  Liberati. 
1 0.  COLLOCATION — "  Buttercups  " Dodworth . 

Consisting  of  "  To  the  love  of  my  youth  I'll  be  true,"  "I  see  her  still  in  my  dreams,"  "Dot 
leetle  German  band, "  "Eeleen,"  "Ten  Thousand  Miles  Away,"  "  Johnny  Morgan."  "Grand 
father's  Clock,"  and  "Dancing  in  the  Barn." 


AT   THE   MILITARY   CAMP,    BY   THE   WECCACOE    LEGIOX    CORNET    BAND,    S.    H.    KINDLE, 

LEADER. 

Dress  Parade  of  Regular  Troops  in  front  of  the  pavilion  in  honor  of  the  Guests. 

7.30  P.  M. 

PYROTECHNIC  DISPLAY. 
From  a  boat  moored  in  the  York  River. 

1.  Brilliant  Illumination. 

2.  Flight  Rockets  and  Shells.  3.  Chinese  Sun. 

4.  Rockets  and  Shells.  5.  Battery.  6.  Diamonds  and  Roses. 

7.    "YORKTOWN.'7 

8.  Rockets  and  Shells.  9.  Saturn  and  Satellites. 

10.  Fountains.  H-  Battery. 

12.  Race.     Five  Monitors. 

13.  Falling  Waters.  14.  Rockets  and  Shells. 

15.  Battery.  16.  Fountains. 

17.  Revolving  Suns. 

18    Battery.  19'  Rockets  and  Shells. 

20.  "PEACE."' 


126  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

8.30  P.  M. 

PROMENADE  CONCERT  AND  HOP. 
RECEPTION   HALL,    BOSTON   CADET   BAND,   J.    THOMAS    BALDWIN,    CONDUCTOR. 

PART  I. 

X 

1.  GRAND  MARCH — "  Battle  of  York  town  " Neumann . 

2.  OVERTURE—"  Ungarische  Lustspeil " Keler  Beln. 

3.  CONCERT  WALTZ— "  Shower  of  Gold  " fTaldtenftl. 

4.  CORNET  SOLO — "  Young  America  " Levy. 

Performed  in  Unison  by  the  Cornet  Soloists  of  the  Band. 

5.  SELECTIONS  FROM  "  RIGOLETTO" Verdi. 

PART  II. 

6.  DUET  FOR  Two  CORNETS Gumfort. 

By  Thomas  W.  Henry  and  Mace  Gay,  Jr. 

7.  POTPOURRI — V  Pretty  as  a  Picture  " Call-in. 

S.  OVERTURE— "  William  Tell " Kosstni. 

y.  GEMS  FROM  "  LUCIA  DE  LAMMEMOOR  " Donizetti. 

10.  CONCERT  GALOP — "  Elegante  " Weis*. 


THURSDAY,  OCTOBER  20. 

The  original  programme  included  a  military  review  for  the  20th  and 
a  naval  drill  for  the  2 1st.  But  the  necessities  df  state  requiring  the 
presence  of  the  President  and  the  Senate  at  Washington  on  the  21st, 
the  Commission  determined  to  combine  the  review  and  drill  in  one  day, 
and  they  both  took  place  on  Thursday,  October  20. 

Oil  that  day,  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  there  was  a  grand  parade  and  review, 
by  the  President,  of  the  regular  United  States  troops,  the  naval  brigade, 
and  the  troops  of  the  several  States,  under  the  command  of  Maj.  Gen. 
Wiufield  Scott  Hancock,  U.  S.  A. 

The  President  and  his  Cabinet,  the  President  pro  tempore  of  the 
Senate,  the  members  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  the  Congressional 
Commission,  the  governors  of  States,  the  commissioners  of  States,  the 
French  and  German  guests,  and  other  distinguished  visitors,  occupied 
the  reviewing  stand,  and  the  military  and  naval  forces,  numbering 
about  twelve  thousand,  passed  in  review,  saluting  the  President  as  they 
passed. 

NAVAL   DRILL. 

In  the  afternoon  a  general  "sail  drill"  was  held,  and  the  fleet,  under 
command  of  Admiral  David  D.  Porter,  was  exercised  in  making,  short 
ening,  and  furling  sails,  and  shifting  top  sails,  by  general  signal  from 
the  flagship  of  the  Admiral. 


YORKTOWtf   CELEBRATION.  127 

SALUTE    TO   THE   BRITISH   FLAG. 

At  the  close  of  the  day,  in  accordance  with  the  "  general  order"  of 
the  President  of  the  day  before,  the  British  flag  was  saluted  by  the 
fleet  and  the  batteries  on  shore. 

This  closed  the  official  programme  of  the  ceremonies. 


DISTINGUISHED  GUESTS  AND    VISITING  MILITARY. 

His  Excellency  CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR,  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  Cabinet. 
The  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

The  House  of  Representatives. 

The  Chief  Justice  and  the  Associate  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
General  William  T.  Sherman,  General  of  the  Army.' 
Lieutenant  General  Philip  H.  Sheridan. 
Maj.  Gen.  Irwin  McDowell,  United  States  Army. 
Maj.  Gen.  John  M.  Schofield,  United  States  Army. 
Brig.  Gen.  O.  O.  Howard,  United  States  Army. 
Brig.  Gen.  John  Pope,  United  States  Army. 
Brig.  Gen.  Alfred  II.  Terry,  United  States  Army. 
Brig.  Gen.  George  Crook,  United  States  Army. 
Admiral  David  D.  Porter,  Admiral  of  the  Navy. 
Vice  Admiral  Stephen  C.  Rowan,  United  States  Navy. 
Rear  Admiral  John  Rodgers,  United  States  Navy. 
Rear  Admiral  John  L.  Worden,  United  States  Navy. 
Rear  Admiral  C.  R.  P.  Rodgers,  United  States  Navy. 
Rear  Admiral  Thomas  H.  Patterson,  United  States  Navy. 
Rear  Admiral  E.  T.  Nichols,  United  States  Navy. 
Rear  Admiral  D.  McN.  Fairfax,  United  States  Navy. 

The  Diplomatic  Corps. 
The  Governors  of  every  State  in  the  Union. 

The  Mayors  of  the  Principal  Cities. 
Ex.- President  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 
Ex-President  Rutherford  B.  Hayes. 
Ex-Vice-President  Hannibal  Hamlin. 
Ex-Vice-President  Schuyler  Colfax. 
Ex- Vice-President  William  A.  Wheeler. 
The  Society  of  The  Cincinnati. 
Other  Distinguished  Citizens. 


OUR  FOREIGN  GUESTS. 
Le  Commandant  LEICHTENSTEIX,  representing  the  President  of  the  French  Republic- 

THE   FRENCH  EMBASSY  AT  WASHINGTON. 

M\  Maxime  Outrey,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary. 
M.  Philippe  Be"rard,  Third  Secretary. 
M.  Grimand  De  Caux,  Chancellor. 


128  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

REPRESENTING  THE    FOREIGN   OFFICE. 

Le  Marquis  Do  Rochambeau. 

M.  De  Corcelle,  Secretary  of  Embassy. 

REPRESENTING   THE    WAR   OFFICE. 

General  George  Ernest  Boulanger. 
Colonel  Hippolyte  William  Bossau. 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Blondel. 
Major  Octavo  Gilbert  do  Pusy. 
Captain  St.  George  Tucker  Mason. 

REPRESENTING   THE    MARINE. 

Admiral  Halligon. 

Captain  Cavalier  De  Cuverville. 

Two  captains  of  vessels  of  the  line. 

Two  captains  of  frigates. 

Two  lieutenants  of  vessels. 

REPRESENTING  THE   BUREAU    OF    ARTS. 

M.  Regarny. 

DESCENDANTS    OF   FRENCH    OFFICERS. 

M.  Paul  De  Beaumont. 

Lieutenant  Sigisrnuud  Marie  Henri  Renne  De  Pourcet  De  Sahuno. 

Lieutenant  the  Count  De  Grasse. 

Count  Alfred  De  Noailles. 

Viscount  De  St.  Simon. 

Count  De  Chabanues  La  Palice. 

Count  J.  C.  DeChastellux. 

Count  Laur  De  Lestrade. 

Captain  Henry  D'Aboville. 

M.  Christian  D'Aboville. 

M.  De  Meiionville,  Captain  of  Cuirassiers. 

M.  Jean  De  Chatillon. 

M.  D'Olonnes. 

M.  D.  Haussonville. 

M.  Clermont  Tonnere  De  Naudreuill. 

DESCENDANTS   OF   BARON   STEUBEX. 

Colonel  Von  Steuben,  Seventy-sixth  Regiment,  Heldshehn. 
Captain  Von  Steuben,  Fourth  Regiment  Guards,  Spandaii. 
Captain  Von  Steuben,  Eighth  Regiment,  Frankfort  on  the  Oder. 
Lieutenant  Von  Steuben,  Twenty-second  Regiment,  Rastadt. 
Lieutenant  Von  Steuhcu,  Thirty- ninth  Regiment,  Dnsseldorf. 
Lieutenant  Von  Steuben,  Seventy-fourth  Regiment,  HeldHheim. 

Major-General  WINFIELD   SCOTT  HANCOCK,  United   States  Army,  commanding  all 
Military  Forces  on  the  Field. 

STAFF. 

Capt.  John  S.  Wharton,  Nineteenth  Infantry,  Aid-de-Camp. 

First  Lieut.  G.  S.  C.  Ward,  Twenty-second  Infantry,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Maj.  William  G.  Mitchell,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  129 

Maj.  Richard  Arnold,  Fifth  Artillery,  Acting  Assistant  Inspector-General. 

Maj.  Asa  Bird  Gardner,  Judge  Advocate. 
Lieut.  Col.  Alexander  J.  Perry,  Deputy  Quartermaster-General,  United  States  Army, 

Chief  Quartermaster. 
Lieut.  Col.  H.  F.  Clarke,  Assistant  Commissary-General  of  Subsistence,  United  States 

Army,  Chief  Commissary  of  Subsistence. 

Col.  John  M.  Cuyler,  Surgeon,  United  States  Army,  Medical  Director. 
Lieut.  Col.  Charles  T.  Larned,  Deputy  Paymaster-General,  Chief  Paymaster. 

THE    REGULAR    ARMY. 

Brevet  Brig.  Gen.  HENRY  B.  CLITZ,  Colonel  Tenth  United  States  Infantry,  Com 
manding. 

STAFF. 

First  Lieut.  John  F.  Stretch,  Adjutant  Tenth  United  States  Infantry. 
First  Lieut.  Gregory  Barrett,  jr.,  Quartermaster  Tenth  United  States  Infantry. 

Surg.  J.  H.  Janeway,  United  States  Army,  Senior  Medical  Officer. 
Capt.  Joseph  P.  Sanger,  First  United  States  Artillery,  Ordnance  Officer. 
First  Lieut.  Edmund  M.  Cobb,  Second  United  States  Artillery,  Commissary  of  Sub 
sistence. 
Assist.  Surg.  J.  P.  Worthington,  United  States  Army. 

BATTALION   FIRST    UNITED   STATES   ARTILLERY, 

Maj.  R.  T.  Frank,  Commanding. 

BATTERY  C. 
Capt.  Tully  McRea ;  First  Lieut.  W.  P.  Van  Ness. 

BATTERY  E. 

Capt.  Frank  E.  Taylor;  First  Lieut.  Robert  H.  Patterson;  First  Lieut.  John  Pope, 
jr. ;  Second  Lieut.  Charles  J.  Bailey. 

BATTERY  F. 
Capt.  Chandler  P.  Eakin  ;  Second  Lieut.  Adam  Slaker. 

BATTERY  L. 
Capt.  Alanson  M.  Randol;  First  Lieut.  Frederick  C.  Nichols. 

DETACHMENT   OF   LIGHT  BATTERY   K,    FIRST   UNITED   STATES  ARTILLERY. 

First  Lieut.  Allyn  Capron,  Commanding;  Second  Lieut.  Adam  Slaker,  First  Artillery. 

First  Artillery  Band. 

BATTALION   SECOND    UNITED    STATES   ARTILLERY. 

Capt.  F.  B.  Hamilton,  First  United  States  Artillery,  Commanding;  Assist.  Surg.  J.  V. 
R.  Hoff,  United  States  Army  (attached). 

BATTERY  I. 
Capt.  F.  B.  Hamilton  ;  First  Lieut.  Thomas  D.  Maurice. 

BATTERY  K. 
Capt.  John  F.  Calef  ;  First  Lieut.  Frank  C.  Grugan ;  Second  Lieut.  Wm.  A.  Simpson. 

BATTERY  L. 

Capt.  J.  I.  Rodgers;  First  Lieut.  N.  Wolfe;  First  Lieut.  H.  A.  Reed. 
S.  Rep.  1003 9 


130  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

LIGHT  BATTERY  A. 

Capt.  A.  C.  M.Pennington  ;  First  Lieut.  A.  1).  Scheiick  ;  First  Lieut.  Edwin  S.  Curti*; 
Second  Lieut.  E.  M.  Weaver,  jr. ;  Second  Lieut.  M.  C.  Richards;  Assist.  Surg.  Wai 
ter  Reed,  United  States  Army  (attached). 

Second  Artillery  Band. 

BATTALION    THIRD    UNITED    STATES   ARTILLERY. 

Lieut.  Col.  G.  A.  DeRussy,  Third  United  States  Artillery,  Conimaudiug  ;  First  Lieut. 
J.  D.  C.  Hoskins,  Third  United  States  Artillery,  Adjutant;  First  Lieut.  Edward 
Davis,  Third  United  States  Artillery,  Quartermaster. 

BATTERY  1). 

Capt.  John  G.  Tnrubull ;  First  Lieut.  Charles  Sellmer;  First  Lieut.  John  E.  Myers  ; 
Second  Lieut.  G.  T.  Bartlett. 

BATTERY  G. 
Capt.  George  F.  Barstow  ;  First  Lieut.  Charles  Humphries. 

BATTERY   1. 

Capt.  John  R.  Myrick  ;  First  Lieut.  Win.  A.  Kobbe,  jr.  ;  Second  Lieut.  D.  J.  Rum- 
bough. 
BATTERY  K. 
Ciijtt.  Lewis  Smith;  First  Lieut.  Charles  W.  Hobbs  ;  SecondLieut.  Wilbur  Loveridge. 

LIGHT    BATTERY    C,    THIRD    UNITED    STATES   ARTILLERY. 

Capt.  William  Sinclair;  First  Lieut.  R.  D.  Potts;  First.  Lieut.,  John  B.  Eaton;  Second 
Lieut.  C.  B.  Satterlee  ;  Assist.  Surg.  H.  G.  Burton,  United  States  Army  (attached). 

Third  Artillery  Band. 

BATTERY    I,    FIFTH    UNITED    STATES    ARTILLERY. 

Capt.  G.  W.  Crabb;  First  Lieut.  W.  B.  McCallum  ;  First.  Lieut.  G.  N.  Whistler. 

BATTALION   TENTH    UNITED    STATES    INFANTRY. 

Capt.  William  L.  Kellogg,  Tenth  United  States  Infantry,  Commanding. 

COMPANY  A. 
Capt.  F.  C.  Lacey;  First.  Lieut.  C.  S.  Bui-bank;  Second  Lieut.  L.  Y.  Seyburn. 

COMPANY  D. 
Capt.  E.  E.  Sellers;  First  Lieut.  W.  F.  Duggan;  Second  Lieut.  E.  H.  Plmnmer. 

COMPANY  E. 

Capt.  Sumner  H.  Lincoln  ;  Second  Lieut.  Thomas  .J.  (.'lay  ;  Second  Lieut.  Donald  Win 
ston. 

COMPANY  F. 
Capt.  K.  M.  Hail;  Second  Lieut.  Henry  Kirby. 

COMPANY  H. 

Capt.  William  L.  Kellogg:    First  Lieut.  C.  E.   Bettsford;  Second  Lieut.  Robert  C. 

Van  Vliet. 

Tenth  United  States  Infantry  Band. 
UNITED  STATES  VETERANS. 

BATTALION  OF  VETERANS  FROM  UNITED  STATES  HOMES, 
Capt.  T.  P.  WOODFIN,  Commanding. 

DETACHMENT  OF    FIRST  REGIMENT  VETERANS'  UNION.  t 
GEORGE  X.  TIHHELL,  Commander. 


YOEKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  131 


STATE  TROOPS. 


His  Excellency  HENRY  M.  Hovr,  Governor. 

Brig.  (-ten.  James  W.  Latta,  Adjutant-General. 
Lieut.  Col.  D.  Stanley  Hassinger,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
Col.  Thomas  J.  Smith,  Commissary-General. 
Lieut.  Col.  William  M.  Buini,  Assistant  Commissary-General. 
Col.  Elisha  A.  Hancock,  Quartermaster-General. 
Lieut.  Col.  Jacob.  C.  Kintner,  Assistant  Quartermaster-General. 
Col.  Louis  W.  Reed,  Surgeon-General. 
Col.  A.Wilson  Norris,  Judge  Advocate  General. 
Col.  Charles  M.  Conyngham,  Inspector-General. 
Col.  John  S.  Riddle,  General  Inspector  Rifle  Practice. 
Col.  James  D.  Walker,  Chief  of  Artillery. 
Lieut.  Col.  W.  Ross  Hartshorne,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  N.  A.  Pennypacker,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  Galloway  C.  Morris,  Aid-de-Cauip. 
Lieut.  Col.  David  F.  Houston,  Aid-de-Carnp. 
Lieut.  Col.  Albert  W.  Taylor,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  B.  Frank  Eslileman,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  John  Lowrie,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  Walter  W.  Ames,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  J.  Ford  Dorraiice.  Aid-de-Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  Frederick  E.  Embick,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  I  'rial  G.  Schoonmaker,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  Hiram  H.  Fisher,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Maj.  (ien.  John  F.  Hartranft,  Commanding  Division  Pennsylvania  National  Guard. 
Lieut,  Col.  George  H.  North,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
Lieut.  Col.  Charles  S.  Greene,  Division  Quartermaster. 
Lieut.  Col.  Aaron  K.  Dunkel,  Division  Paymaster. 
Lieut.  Col.  Russell  Thayer,  Division  Inspector. 
Lieut.  Col.  J.  Ewing  Mears,  Division  Surgeon. 
Lieut.  Col.  E.  Wallace  Matthews,  Division  Ordnance  Officer. 
Lieut.  Col.  Silas  W.  Pettit,  Division  Judge  Advocate. 
Lieut.  Col.  George  Sanderson,  jr.,  Inspector  Rifle  Practice. 
Maj.  Wrilliani  F.  Aull,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Maj.  S.  S.  Hartranft,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Maj.  Edward  O.  Shakespeare,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Maj.  -  Hendry,  Aid-de-Camp. 


EIGHTEENTH  REGIMENT,  COL.  T.  N.  GITHHIK. 
800  strong. 


His  Excellency  GEORGE  C.  LUDLOW,  Governor. 

Brevet  Maj.  Gen.  William  S.  Stryker,  Adjutant-General. 
Brevet  Maj.  Gen.  Lewis  Perine,  Quartermaster-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  Thomas  R.  Varick,  Surgeon-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  Willoughby  Westou,  Inspector-General. 
I>i  itr.  Gen.  Bird  \Y.  Spencer.  Inspector  Rifle  Practice. 


132  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Col.  Garret  Ackerson,  Judge  Advocate  General. 
Col.  William  E.  Hoy,  Aid-de-Cainp. 
Col.  Edward  A.  Stevens,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Col.  Eckford  Moore,  Aid-de  Camp. 
Col.  John  W.  Romaine,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Maj.  Gen.  Gersham  Mott,  Commanding  National  Guard  of  New  Jersey. 
Col.  Daniel  Loder,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
Col.  Edward  L.  Welling,  Surgeon. 
Lieut.  Col.  Charles  N.  C.  Murphy,  Paymaster. 

Brevet  Maj.  Gen.  Joseph  W.  Plume,  Commanding  First  Brigade  N.  J.  N.  G. 
Lieut.  Col.  Marvin  Dodd,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
Lieut.  Col.  George  E.  P.  Howard,  Inspector. 
Lieut.  Col.  A.  Judson  Clark,  Inspector  Rifle  Practice. 

Brevet  Maj.  Gen.  William  J.  Sewall,  Commanding  Second  Brigade,  N.  J.  N.  G. 
Lieut.  Col.  Thomas  S.  Chambers,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
Lieut.  Col.  Daniel  B.  Murphy,  Inspector. 
Maj.  William  M.  Palmer,  Quartermaster. 

XKW   JERSEY  BATTALION,    NATIONAL   GUARD. 

Headquarters,  Trenton. 

Brevet  Brig.  Gen.  E.  Burd  Grubb,  Commanding. 
TOO  strong. 


His  Excellency  THOMAS  J.  JARVIS,  Governor. 

Brig.  Gen.  Johnston  Jones,  Adjutant-General,  Chief  of  Staff. 

Col.  A.  B.  Andrews,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  W.  P.  Roberts,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  John  N.  Staples,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Harry  N.  Skinner,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Capt.  John  M.  Roberts,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Francis  H.  Cameron,  Inspector-General. 

Col.  F.  W.  Kerchner,  Quartermaster-General. 

Col.  Peter  E.  Hines,  Surgeon-General. 

Lieut.  Col.  P.  F.  Pesaud,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 

Lieut.  Col.  T.  F.  Olds,  Ordnance  Officer. 

NORTH  CAROLINA  BRIGADE. 
Brig.  Gen.  B.  C.  MANLY,  Commanding. 

FIRST  REGIMENT  NORTH  CAROLINA  NATIONAL  GUARD. 

Col.  R.  D.  Hancock,  Commanding. 
First  Lieut.  N.  Bagostine,  Adjutant. 
Capt.  P.  H.  Andrews,  Quartermaster. 
Capt.  Washington  Bryan,  Commissary. 
Capt.  J.  M.  Baker,  Surgeon. 
Capt.  N.  M.  Jurney,  Chaplain. 

COMPANY  A. 
Raleigh  Light  Injantry. 

Capt.  John  R.  Ferrall ;  First  Lieut.  John  T.  Pullen ;  Second  Lieut.  John  M.  Sher 
wood  ;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  Charles  D.  Upchurch. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  133 

COMPANY  B. 
Xeic  Berne  Grays. 

First  Lieut.   Green  Bryan ;   Second  Lieut.   Jos.   Hackburn ;   Junior  Second  Lieut. 

Geo.  A.  Oliver. 

COMPANY  D. 

Goldxborough  Rifles. 

Capt.  J.  E.  Peterson ;  First  Lieut.    T.  Howard  Bain  ;  Second  Lieut.  Wm.  T.  Hollo- 
well  ;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  Edward  T.  Hudson. 

COMPANY  E. 

Orange  Guards  of  HiUsborough. 

Maj.  H.  P.  Jones,  Commanding ;  First  Lieut.  A.  J.  Gordon  ;  Second  Lieut.  W.  Ander 
son  ;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  E.  Rosemond. 

COMPANY  F. 

Edgecombe  Guards  of  Tarborough. 
First  Lieut.  Exum  Lewis;  Second  Lieut.  J.  C.  Powell;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  J.  G. 

Paris. 

COMPANY  G. 

Washington  Light  Infantry. 
Capt.  D.  X.  Bogart ;  First  Lieut.  Charles  F.  Warren  ;  Second  Lieut.  Edward  Long. 

SECOND   REGIMENT  NORTH   CAROLINA   NATIONAL   GUARD. 

Col.  Albert  H.  Worth,  Commanding. 

First  Lieut.  Robert  S.  Huske,  Adjutant. 
Capt.  Francis  M.  Caldwell,  Commissary. 
Capt.  W.  T.  Eunett,  Surgeon. 
Capt.  A.  A.  Benton,  Chaplain. 

COMPANY  A. 

FayetteviUe  Independent  Light  Infantry. 
Maj.  A.  A.  McKethan,  Commanding. 

First  Capt.  Ralph  B.  Lutterloh;  Second  Capt.  John  A.  McLaughlin  ;  Third  Capt.  W. 
F.  Campbell ;  Fourth  Capt.  Thomas  B.  Broadfoot. 

COMPANY  B. 

La  Fayette  Light  Infantry  of  FayetteviUe. 

Capt.  Edward  P.  Powers;  First  Lieut.  W.  S.  Cook;  Second  Lieut.  James  W.  M. 
Neill ;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  D.  A.  McMillan. 

COMPANY  C. 

Wilmington  Light  Infantry. 

Capt.  John  L.  Cantwell ;  First  Lieut.  Thomas  C.  James;  Second  Lieut.  W.  J.  Gor 
don  ;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  James  C.  Munds. 
COMPANY  D. 
Duplin  Rifles. 
Capt.  James  G.  Kennan. 

COMPANY  E. 

Hornet's  Xest  Riflemen  of  Charlotte. 
Capt.  E.  F.  Young;  Second  Lieut.  O.  W.  Badger;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  A.  T.  Moss. 

COMPANY  H. 

JtlecJclinburg  Riflemen  of  Sugar  Creek. 
Capt.  W.  J.  McLaughlin;  First  Lieut.  N.  S.  Alexander;  Second  Lieut.  N.  P.  Liles. 


134  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

COMPANY  K. 

An  son   Veteran*  of  Wadesborougli. 

Capt.  J.  W.  McGregor;  First  Lieut.  W.  L.   Steele ;  Second  Lieut.  W.   L.  Parsons; 
Junior  Second  Lieut.  W.  G.  Huntley. 

THIRD    REGIMENT    OF   NORTH    CAROLINA   NATIONAL   GUARD. 

Lieut.  Col.  W.  T.  Blackwell,  Commanding. 
First  Lieut.  13.  L.  Duke,  Adjutant. 
Capt.  Andrew  Joyner,  Quartermaster. 
Capt.  J.  B.  Smith,  Commissary. 
Capt.  J.  W.  Leary,  Surgeon. 
Capt.  A.  S.  Smith,  Chaplain. 

COMPANY  A. 
Winston  Light  Infantry. 

Capt.  John  B.   Burch;  First  Lieut.  W.    P.  Benton;  Second  Lieut.  T.   II.   Pegrarn  ; 
Junior  Second  Lieut.  J.  H.  Finley. 

COMPANY  C. 

Albemarle  Guards  of  Edenton. 

Capt.  C.  W.  Cason;  First  Lieut.  R.  B.  Perkins;  Second  Lieut.  M.  H.  Dixon  ;  Junior 
Second  Lieut.  Frank  Ward. 

COMPANY  D. 
])urham  Light  Infantry. 

Capt.  John  F.  Freeland  ;  First  Lieut.  W.  S.  Wall  ;  Second  Lieut.  Thomas  A.  Day 
Junior  Second  Lieut.  M.  E.  McCowu. 

COMPANY  G. 

Henderson  Light  Infantry. 

[Organized  in  1881.] 

Capt.  W.  A.  Farris. 

COMPANY  H. 

liockinnham  Guards. 

Capt.  James  D.  Glenn. 

SECOND    BATTALION   NORTH    CAROLINA    INFANTRY. 

Maj.  Silas  McBee,  Commanding. 

COMPANY  C. 

Iredell  Blues  of  Statesville. 

Capt.  A.  D.  Cowles:  First.  Lieut.  Jacob  Wallace ;  Second  Lieut.  J.  II.   Hoftnmn  : 
Junior  Second  Lieut.  A.  M.  V annoy. 

COMPANY  E. ' 
(Juliele  Iliflea  of  Shoe  Red. 

Capt.  E.  F.  McRea;  First.   Lieut.  J.  W.  Campbell;  Second  Lieut.  N.  II.  McLean; 
Junior  Second  Lieut.  J.  A.  Patterson. 

COMPANY  F. 

Salisbury  Rifles. 

Capt.  Theo.  Parker;  First  Lieut.  Wallace  F.  Gray  ;  Second  Lieut.  James  W.  Rumple. 


M:  i  c  H  i «- 

His  Excellency  DAYID  H.  JEROME,  Governor. 

Brig.  Gen.  John  Robertson,  Adjutant-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  William  G.  Gage,  Inspector-General. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  135 

Brig.' Gen.  Nathan  Church,  Quartermaster-General. 

Major  Cliarles  D.  Long,  Judge  Advocate. 

Col.  G.  S.  Wonner,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Charles  B.  Peck,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  F.  H.  Creul,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Henry  S.  Raymond,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  C.  E.  Grisson,  State  Militaiy  Board,  A.  D.  C. 

Col.  Henry  M.  Dnffield,  State  Military  Board,  A.  D.  C. 

Brig.  Gen.  W.  H.  Withington,  First  Brigade  Michigan  State  Troops. 
Lieut.  Col.  E.  A.  Sumner,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
Lieut.  Col.  R.  A.  Liggett,  Brigade  Inspector. 
Lieut.  Col.  James  H.  Kidd,  Brigade  Quartermaster, 
rapt.  W.  A.  Butler,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Capt.  A.  B.  Porter,  Aid-de-Camp. 

MICHIGAN    HATTALION    STATE    TROOPS. 

Col.  Israel  C.  Smith,  Second  Regiment  M.  S.  T.,  Commanding. 
•Lieut.  Col.  F.  H.  Blackman,  Third  Regiment. 
M;»j.  B.  F.  Wheeler,  First  Regiment. 
Surg.  H.  R.  Mills,  Third  Regiment. 
Assist.  Surg.  C.  M.  Woodward,  First  Regiment. 
COMPANY  A,  FIRST  REGIMENT. 

Ann  Arlor. 
Capt.  Charles  If.  Manly  :  First  Lieut.  Jacob  F.  ScLnh  :  Second  Lieut.  Charles  Hie- 

cock. 
COMPANY  B,  FIRST  REGIMENT. 

Adrian. 

Capt.  Martin  O'Leary ;  First  Lieut,  (vacant.);  Second  Lieut.  Win.  L.  Church. 
COMPANY  B,  SECOND  REGIMENT. 

Grand  I  tap  ids. 
Capt.  Henry  W.  Calkins:  First  Lieut.  Frederick  J.  Morrison;  Second  Lieut.  Alva  B. 

Richmond. 
COMPANY  G,  SECOND  REGIMENT. 

Ionia.    • 
Capt.  Frederick  S.  Hutchinson  ;  First  Lieut.  Angelo  E.  Tower:  Second  Lieut.  Henry 

C.  Sessions. 
COMPANY  D,  THIRD  REGIMENT. 

Bay  City. 
Capt.  Clias.  R.  Hawley;  First  Lieut.    Horace  P.  Wartield  ;  Second  Lieut.  Robert  P. 

Dolsen. 
COMPANY  E,  THIRD  REGIMENT. 

Eaat  Saginaw. 

Capt.  Albert  L.   Button:  First  Lieut.  Lewis  C.  Slade;  Second  Lieut.  Timothy  H. 

McCoy. 

v  E  R  ivx  o  :sr  rr . 

His  Excellency  ROSWELL  FARNHAM,  Governor  and  Commaiider-m-Chief. 

His  Honor  John  L.  Barstow  Lieutenant-Governor. 

Brig.  Gen.  T.  S.  Peck,  Adjutant-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  L.  G.Kingsley,  Quartermaster-General. 


136  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Brig.  Gen.  George  VV.  Hooker,  Judge  Advocate  G 

Brig.  Gen.  L.  M.  Biiigham,  Surgeon-General. 

Col.  George  T.  Childs,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  E.  Ely  Goddard,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  H.  J.  Brooks,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  William  R.  Rowell,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  M.  K.  Paine,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Olin  Scott,  Aid-de-Camp. 

VERMONT   BATTALION   NATIONAL   GUARD. 

Maj.  Albert  D.  Tenny,  First  Regiment  V.  N.  G.,  Commanding. 

COMPANY  D. 

Ransom  Guards  of  Saint  Albans. 
Capt.  F.  Stewart  Stranahan  ;  First  Lieut.  S.  H.  Wood;  Second  Lieut.  William  II. 

Farrar. 
COMPANY  I. 

Estey  Guard  of  Brattleborough. 

Capt.  George  H.  Bond  ;  First  Lieut.  F.  W.  Child;  Second  Lieut.  C.  R.  Stevens. 

RANSOM  GUARD  BAND, 

Of  Saint  Albam. 

BURLEIGH  CORPS, 

Of  Whitehall,  N.  Y. 

Ninth  Separate  Company,  Third  Division  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.     Captain  R.  E.  Bascom. 


N"  EJ  W    Y  O 
His  Excellency  ALONZO  B.  CORNELL,  Governor. 

Maj.  Gen.  Frederick  Townsend,  Adjutant-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  Robert  L.  Oliver,  Inspector-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  Daniel  D.  Wylie,  Chief  of  Ordnance. 

Brig.  Gen.  Lloyd  Aspinwa'l,  Engineer-in-Chief. 

Brig.  Gen.  William  H.  Watson,  Surgeon  -General. 

Brig.  Gen.  Horace  Russell,  Judge  Advocate  General. 

Brig.  Gen.  Charles  P.  Eastou,  Quartermaster-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  Charles  J.  Laugdon,  Commissary-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  J.  W.  Hoysradt,  Paymaster-General. 

Biig.  Gen.  A.  C.  Barnes,  General  Inspector  Rifle  Practice. 

Col.  James  M.  Varnum,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Henry  M,  Watson,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Francis  N.  Mann,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Charles  S.  Francis,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  John  T.  Mott,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Charles  Cornell,  Acting  Military  Secretary. 

THIRTEENTH   REGIMENT  NATIONAL   GUARD    OF    NEW    YORK. 

Headquarters,  Brooklyn. 
Col.  David  E.Austen,  Commanding. 
Lieut.  Col.  Theo.  B.  Gates. 
Maj.  William  H.  H.  Tyson. 
Adjutant  George  B.  Davis. 

Quartermaster,  Brevet  Capt.  J.  Fred.  Ackerman. 
Commissary  Jere.  A.  Wernberg. 
Surg.  James  J.  Terhuue. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  137 

Assist.  Surg.  George  W.  Brush. 
Chaplain  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
Inspector  Rifle  Practice  Theo.  H.  Babcock. 

COMPANY  A. 
Vupt.  William  .).  Collins;  First  Lieut.  Watkin  W.  Jones;  Second  Lieut.  Eugene  J. 

Snow. 

COMPANY  B. 
Capt. Edward  M.  Smith;  First  Lieut.  William  A.  Brown;  Second  Lieut.  David  F. 

Manning. 

COMPANY  C. 

Capt.  James  L.  Denison  ;  Second  Lieut.  Frank  B.  S.  Morgan. 

COMPANY  D. 
€apt.  Thomas  F.  Randolph;  First  Lieut.  William  W.  Hanold;  Second  Lieut.  JohnL.  S. 

Kellner. 

COMPANY  E. 

•Cap*.  Edward  Fackner;  First  Lieut.  William  Kirby;  Second  Lieut.  Samuel  W.  Smith 

COMPANY  F. 
Capt.  Richard  P.  Morle;  First  Lieut.  Frank  Harrison  ;  Second  Lieut.  James  E.  Daly. 

COMPANY  G. 
Capt.  William  L.  Watson;  First  Lieut.  A.  Fuller  Tomes;   Second  Lieut.  Samuel  T. 

Skinner. 

COMPANY  H. 

Capt.  Henry  E.  Kane;  First  Lieut.  John  Garlich;  Second  Lieut.  Joseph  Frolich. 

COMPANY  I. 
Capt.  George  T.  Romans;  First  Lieut.  Alonzo  Townley. 

COMPANY  K. 
Capt.  George  B.  Squires;  First  Lieut.  William  J.  McKelvey. 

NON-COMMISSIONED    STAFF. 

Sergt.  Maj.  Russell  Benedict. 

Quartermaster  Sergt.  Charles  Werner. 

Commissary  Sergt.  Frank  Kilholz. 

Ordnance  Sergt.  James  McNevin. 

Hospital  Steward  Charles  G.  Curtis. 

Acting  Drum  Major  Johu  Smith. 

Band  Leader  Harvey  B.  Dodworth. 

.Sergeant  Standard  Bearers  Hay  wood  Smith  and  Charles  M.  Nichols,  jr. 

Right  General  Guide  Albert  E.  Hamilton. 

Left  General  Guide  D.  Schuyler  Bennett. 

COMPANY  D. 

f'eterans  Sixty -fifth  Regiment  Xational  Guard,  New  York,  Buffalo,  X.  Y. 
Capt.  John  J.  Callahan;  First  Lieut.  George  A.  Cowan;  Second  Lieut.  Henry  Casler. 


R  Y  IT.  A.  N  TJ>  . 

His  Excellency  WILLIAM  T.  HAMILTON,  Governor. 

Maj.  Gen.  J.  Wesley  Watkins,  Adjutant-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  H.  Clay  Dallain,  Judge  Advocate  General. 
Brig.  Gen.  George  S.  Brown,  Paymaster-General. 


138  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Brig.  (Jen.  Charles  P!  Montague,  Chief  of  Ordnance. 
Brig.  Gen.  Henry  S.  Taylor,  Commissary-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  Jolm  Gill,  Quartermaster-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  Andrew  G.  Chapman,  Inspector-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  William  Lee,  Surgeon-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  J.  Carroll  Walsh,  Chief  of  Engineers. 
Brig.  Gen.  Joseph  B.  Stafford,  Chief  of  Cavalry. 
Brig.  Gen.  R.  Snovvden  Andrews.  Chief  of  Artillery. 

-lids-de-Cani))  to  the  (iocernoi'. 

Col.  Dennis  M.  Matthews. 
Col.  Edward  B.  Jacobs. 
Col.  Martin  Emerich. 
Col.  William  M.  McKaig. 
Col.  John  S.  Gittings. 
Col.  J.  Tpshuf  Dennis. 
Col.  N.  Bosley  Merry  man. 
Col.  Harry  H.  Brogdeu. 
Col.  F.  Carroll  Goldsborongh. 

///,'>/'  BRIGADE  MARYLAND  NATIOXAL  GUARD. 

Brig.  Gen.  JAMES  R.  HERBERT,  Commanding. 
Lieut.  Col.  T.  Wallis  Blackistone,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
Maj.  P.  P.  Daiidridge,  Engineer. 
Maj.  .7.  W.  S.  Brady,  Inspector. 
Maj.  Wilbur  R.  McKnew,  Surgeon. 
Capt.  Thomas  Hillen,  Ordnance  Officer. 
Capt.  Chas.  A.  Gambrill,  Quartermaster. 
Capt.  Howard  Ridgely,  Commissary. 
Capt.  George  W.  Wood,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Capt.  Frederick  Shriver,  Aid-de-Camp. 
First  Lieut.  Arthur  H.  Whitely,  Aid-de-Catnp. 

TIl-'TH    REGIMENT   MARYLAND    NATIONAL   (U  AIM). 

Headquarters.  Baltimore. 
Col.  Stewart  Brown.  Commanding. 
Lieut.  Col.  John  D.  Lipscomb. 
Adj.  W.  Kenuoii  Whiting. 
Quartermaster  Robert  J.  Miller. 
Commissary  Edward  C.  Johnson. 
Surg.  William  H.  Crini. 
Assist.  Snrg.  William  F.  Lock  wood. 
Chaplain  Joseph  Reynolds. 
Ordnance  Officer  John  Landstrut,  jr, 
Paymaster  William  T.  Frick. 

COMPANY  A. 
Capt.  W.  S.  Whitely. 

COMPANY  B. 
First  Lieut.  Harry  E.  Mann  ;  Second  Lieut.  R.  Hamilton. 

COMPANY  C. 
Capt.  R.  P.  Brown;  First  Lieut.  G.  E.  Nelson;  Second  Lieut.  J.  S.  Gorman. 

COMPANY  D. 
Capt.  G.  C.  Cole;  First  Lieut.  E.  N.  Spencer;  Second  Lieut.  G.  E.  Search. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

COMPANY  E. 
Second  Lieut.  Henry  V.  Flack. 

COMPANY  F. 
Capt.  \V.  S.  Anderson. 

COMPANY  G. 
I'apt.  A.  I>.  B.  Courtuay;  First  Lieut.  D.  W.  Laws;  Second  Lieut.  H.  E.  Brown. 

COMPANY  H. 
Capt.  W.  P.  Zollinger;  First  Lieut.  C.  F.  Albers. 

COMPANY  I. 
First  Lieut.  N.  L.  Goldsborougli. 

COMPANY  K. 
Capt.  J.  T.  Hinkle;  First  Lieut.  A.H.Taylor. 

FIRS  T     li  A  T  T  A  L  I  O  N      IN  F  A  N  T  11  Y  . 

Headquarters,  Cumberland. 

Capt.  and  Brevet  Lieut.  Col.  Henry  J.  Johnson,  commanding. 
First  Lieut,  and  Adjt.  David  W.  Sloan. 
First  Lieut,  and  Quartermaster  T.  J.  Peddicord. 
First  Lieut,  and  Assist.  Surg.  E.  H.  Bartlett. 

COMPANY  A. 

Voltigi'.ur*  of  Cumberland. 

First  Lieut.  W.  O.  Hoffman  ;  Second  Lieut.  Edward  Schilling. 

COMPANY  B. 

Garrett  Guards,  Oakland. 

Organized  October,  1879. 

Capt.  E.  H.  Wardwell;  First  Lieut.  D.  M.  Mason;  Second  Lieut.  P.  H.  Chisholm. 

COMPANY  C. 

Hamilton  Light  Infantry,  Cumberland. 
Capt.  R.  H.  Gordon;  First  Lieut.  J.  F.  Harrison;  Second  Lieut.  B.  Scott  Rigger. 

SECOND    II  A  T  T  A  L  I  O  N     INFANTRY. 
HAGERSTOWN   LIGHT  INFANTRY. 

Hagei'stowtt,  Md. 
Capt.Hy.  Kyd  Douglas  :  First  Lieut.  Samuel  F.  Craft;  Second  Lieut.  Alex.  M.  Roberts. 

TOWSON   GUARDS. 

Baltimore  County. 
Organized  1877. 

Capt.  John  Ridgely,  of  H. ;  First  Lieut.  C.  B.  McClearr;  Second  Lieut.  Robert  Pilson. 
Uniform  :  Gray,  black  trimmings.     Arms,  Springfield  muskets. 

LINGANOR   GUARDS. 

Unionville. 
Capt.  E.  D.  Danner;  First  Lieut.  Wm.  M.  Gaither  ;  Second  Lieut.  R.  S.  Glisan. 

KENT   GUARDS. 

Chestertown. 

Gapt.  Thomas  S.  Bordley ;  First  Lieut.  Thomas  G.  De  Ford;  Second  Lieut.  Robert  R. 

C  alder. 

FREDERICK    RIFLEMEN. 

Frederick. 
Capt.  James  McSherry. 


140  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

GOVERNOR'S  GUARDS. 

Annapolis. 
Capt.  Lewis  Greene. 

BOND    Gl"Ai;i»s. 

Catonsville. 
Capt.  D.  B.  Barnette. 

K  E  US"  T  TJ  C  Ji  Y. 

His  Excellency  LUKE  P.  BLACKHURX,  Governor. 

Brig.  Gen.  J.  P.  Nuckols,  Adjutant-General. 

Maj.  James  Blackburn,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 

Col.  R.  H.  Wildberger,  Assistant  Inspector-General. 

Col.  P.  P.  Johnston,  Assistant  Inspector-General. 

Col.  George  \V.  Buchanan,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Lewis  Keau,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.    -  Kite,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Capt.  Henry  McHenry,  Aid-de-Crnnp. 

Hon.  Jacob  Corbett,  Private  Secretary. 

Hon.  L.B.Churchill. 

KENTUCKY   BATTALION    STATE    GUARD. 

Maj.  John  R.  Allen,  Third  Battalion  State  Guard,  Commanding. 

"  BOWLING  GREEN  GUARD." 

Capt.  M.  H.  Crump. 

"  LEXINGTON  RIFLES." 

Capt.  J.  R.  Morton. 
"  MASON  COUNTY  GUARDS." 

Of  Maysville. 

Capt.  A.  C.  Respess. 

"McCREARY  GUARDS." 

Of  Frankfort. 

Capt.  J.  L.  Price. 

"  MONARCH  RIFLES." 

Of  Owensborough. 

Capt.  S.  H.  Ford. 

"Captain  South's  Military  Cornet  Band,"  twelve  pieces. 


His  Excellency  HARRIS  M.  PLAISTED,  Governor. 
Brig.  Gen.  George  L.  Beal,  Adjutant-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  John  J.  Lynch,  Inspector-General. 
Col.  Frank  D.  Pullen,  Commissary-General. 
Two  Aids-de-Camp. 


His  Excellency  JOHNSON  HAGOOD,  Governor 

Adj.  Gen.  A.  M.  Manigault,  Chief  of  Stnff. 
Lieut.  Col.  W.  H.  Perry,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  H.  A.  Gailliard,  Aid-de-Camp. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  141 

Lieut.  Col.  G.  B.  Lartigue,  Aid-de  Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  George  Johustone,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  J.  J.  Lucas,  Aid-de  Camp. 
Lieut.  Col.  J.  W.  Barnwell,  Aid-de-Cainp. 

Lieutenant  Governor  John  D.  Kennedy. 

General  John  Bratton,  Comptroller-General. 

Col.  J.  P.  Richardson,  Treasurer. 

Col.  R.  M.  Simms,  Secretary  of  State. 

Hon.  Leroy  F.  Youmans,  Attorney-General. 

Col.  A.  P.  Butler,  Commissioner  of  Agriculture. 

General  M.L.  Bouham,  Railroad  Commissioner. 

W.  H.  Maiming,  esq.,  Private  Secretary  to  the  Governor. 

Chief  Justice  W.  D.  Simpson. 
Associate  Justices,  H.  Mclver,  S.  McGowan. 

Circuit  Judges : 

Hon.  B.  C.  Pressley.  Hon.  A.  P.  Aldrich. 

Hon.  T.  B.  Fraser.  Hon.  J.  H.  Hudson. 

Hon.  J.  B.  Kershaw.  Hon.  T.  J.  Mackey. 

Hon.  W.  H.  Wallace.  Hon.  J.  S.  Cothran. 

FROM    THE    STATE    SENATE. 

Hon.  W.  W.  Harllee.  Hon.  James  F.  Izlar. 

Hon.  B.  F.  Crayton.  Hon.  L.  J.  Patterson. 

Hon.  I.  W.  Moore, 

FROM  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

Hon-  John  C.  Sheppard,  Speaker  of  the  House. 
Hon.  J.  W.  Williamson.  Hon.  J.  Harvey  Wilson. 

Hon.  James  Simons.  Hon.  August  Fiudd. 

Hon.  E.  M.  Rucker.  Hon.  M.  C.  Taggart. 

Hon.  J.  J.  Hemphill.  Hon.  R.  I.  Harrison. 

Hon.  C.  E.  Sawyer.  Hon.  W.  B.  Rice. 

"  YORKTOWN   CENTENNIAL   BATTALION"   OF    SOUTH    CAROLINA. 

Field  and  Staff. 

Col.  Hugh  S.  Thompson,  Columbia. 
Lieut.  Col.  Louis  de  B.  McCrady,  Charleston. 
Maj.  H.  K.  du  Bose,  Camden. 
Adj.  Captain  John  P.  Arthur,  Columbia. 
Quartermaster,  Lieut.  R.  D.  Lee,  Sumter. 
Commissary,  Lieut.  C.  H.  Sloan,  Greenville. 
Sergeant  Maj.  J.  M.  Morris,  Columbia. 

GORDON   LIGHT   INFANTRY. 

Winnborough,  S.  C. 
Capt.  W.  Jordan  ;  First  Lieut.  T.  K.  Elliott:  Second  Lieut.  J.  H.  Cummings. 

LEE    LIGHT   INFANTRY. 

Chester,  S.  C. 
Capt.  J.  K.  Marshall:  First  Lieut,  J.  B.  McFadden;  Second  Lieut.  W.  E.  Walker. 

BUTLER   GUARDS. 

Greenville,  S.  C. 

First  Lieut.  Commanding  W.  A.  Williams;  Second  Lieut. William  Hill  Hill;  Third 

Lieut.  F.  B.  McBee. 


142  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

SUMTKR  LIGHT  INFANTRY. 

8 n mter,  S.  C. 

('apt.  W.  R.  Delgar;  Second  Lieut.  D.  J.  Auld;  Third  Lieut.  Marion  Sanders. 

GOVERNOR'S  GUARDS. 

Columbia,  S.  C. 
Capt.  Wilie  Jones  :  First  Lieut.  W.  G.  Childs;  Third  Lieut.  W.  K.  Puttie. 

GERMAN   FUSILIERS. 

Charleston,  S.  C. 
Capt.  Henry  Schachte;  Fir.st  Lieut.   Henry  B.  Schroder  ;  Acting  Lieut.  A.  Fischer. 

ABBEVILLE    RIFLES. 

Abbeville,  S.  C. 
Capt.  M.  L.  Bonliain,  jr.;  First  Lieut.   S.  C.  Caeson;  Second  Lieut.  W.  C.  McGowu. 

PALMETTO    RIFLES. 

.-liken,  S.  C. 
Capt.  AY.  W.  Williams;  First  Lieut.  H.  H.  Hail;  Second  Lieut.  B.  H.  Teague. 

RICHLAND    VOLUNTEER   RIFLES. 

Columbia,  S.  C. 
Capt.  1{.  N.  Richbonrg:  First  Lieut.  E.  R.  Arthur;  Second  Lieut.  L.  P.  Childs. 

WASHINGTON   LIGHT    INFANTRY. 

Charleston,  S.  C. 

•Capt.   Alex.   W.   Marshall;    First  Lieut.  J.  S.  Hanahan  ;  Second  Lieut.  Geo.  B.  Ed 
wards. 

R  H  O  T)  E    I  SI;  A.  IX  D  . 

His  Excellency  ALFRED  H.  LITTLEFIELD,  Governor. 

Brig.  Gen.  C.  Henry  Barney,  Adjutant-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  Charles  R.  Peiinis,  Quartermaster-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  John  P.  Budlong,  Surgeon-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  John  F.  Tobey,  Judge  Advocate  General. 

Col.  Henry  A.  Pierce,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Eben  F.  Littlefield,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Charles  H.  Willioins,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  John  F.  Clark,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  E.  Charles  Francis,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  John  C.  Seabury,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Lieut.  Col    William  W.  Pouglas,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 

Lieut.  Col.  S.  W.  Pickerson,  Assistant  Quartermaster-General. 

Lieut.  Col.  George  L.  Gower,  Assistant  Judge  Advocate  General. 

Lieut.  Gov.  Henry  H.  Fay. 

Hon.  J.  M.  Addemau,  Secretary  of  State. 

SECOND    BATTALION    INFANTRY,    R.    I.    M. 

COMPANY  P. 

ll'oodstork,  If.  I. 

<Japt.  Fred.  W.  .Jeuckes;  First  Lieut.  Frank  M.  Cornell ;  Second  Lieut.  Seth  Arnold,  Jr. 

COMPANY  F. 
Paivtucket,  B.  L 

Capt.  Charles  Rittman;  First  Lieut.  Frederick  W.  Eastern;  Second  Lieut.  Alfred  H. 

Cheetham. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  143 


:N"  K  "NV    1  1  A.  INI  T»  S  U  I 

His  Excellency  CHARLKS  II.   BKI.L,  Governor  and  Comm  an  der-in-  Chief. 

Maj.  Gen.  Augustus  D.  Ayling.  of  Concord,  Adjutant-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  Elbert  Wheeler,  of  Lacouia,  Inspector-  General. 

Brig.  Gen.  Marshall  C.  Went  worth,  of  Jackson,  Quartermaster-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  George  E.  Lane,  of  Exeter,  Commissary-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  Ezra  Mitchell,  jr.,  of  Lancaster,  Surgeon-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  Francis  C.  Faulkner,  of  Keeue,  Judge  Advocate  General. 

Col.  Charles  H.  Sawyer,  of  Dover,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  William  II.  STinson,  of  Dunbarton,  Aid-de-Cauip. 

Col.  Daniel  C.  Gould,  of  Manchester,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Edward  H.  Gilman.  of  Exeter,  Aid-de-Camp. 

"YORKTOWN    BATTALION    NEW    HAMPSHIRE    NATIONAL    GUARD.'' 

Lieut.  Col.  Elbridge  J.  Copp,  Second  Regiment  New  Hampshire  National  Guard,  Com 

manding. 

Adj.  Rufus  P.  Staniels,  Third  New  Hampshire  N.  G. 
(Cartel-master  Lewis  P.  Wilson,  Second  New  Hampshire  N.  G. 
Surg.  Henry  E.  Newell,  First  New  Hampshire  N.  G. 
Asst.  Surgeon  George  Cook,  Third  New  Hampshire  N.  G. 
Chaplain  Henry  Powers.  First  New  Hampshire  N.  G. 
Sergt.  Major  Win.  W.  Hemmenway,  Second  New  Hampshire  N.  G. 
Quartermaster-Sergeant  Geo.  R.  Leavitt,  Third  New  Hampshire  N.  G. 
Hospital  Steward  James  W.  Wilson,  First  New  Hampshire  N.  G. 
Drum-Maj.  Alon/o  W.  Glines,  Third  New  Hampshire  N.  G. 

COMPANY  A,  FIRST  REGIMENT. 

Stratford  Guards  of  Dover. 
<.'apt.  George  H.  Demerritt  ;  First  Lieut.  Frederick  Ernmott;  Second  Lieut.  Martin  J. 

Gallinger. 
COMPANY  F,  SECOND  REGIMENT. 

City  Guard*  of  Nashua. 

Capt.  Jason  E.Tolles:  First  Lieut.  Win.  W.  Wheeler;  Second  Lieut.  Eugene  P.  Whitney. 
COMPANY  K,  THIRD  REGIMENT. 

Belknap  Guard*  of  Laconia. 
C'apt.  Ediniind  Tetley:  First.  Lieut.  Martin  B.Plummer;  SecondLieut.  Fred.  R.Gilnmn. 

The  Third  Regiment  Baud,  twenty-four  members,  accompanied  the  troops. 

<_'  o  is"  :N~  P:  c  '  rr  i  c  u  T  . 

His  Excellency  HOBART  B.  BIGELOW,  Governor. 
Lieutenant-Goveruor  WILLIAM  H.  Bi  LKELEY. 

Brig.  Gen.  George  N.  Harmon,  Adjutant-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  Alexander  Harbison,  Quartermaster-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  James  G.  Gregory,  Surgeon  -General. 
Brig.  Gen.  George  H.  Ford,  Commissary-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  Frederick  E.  Camp,  Paymaster-General. 
Col.  William  E.  Barrows,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Col.  William  B.  Rudd.  Aid-de-Camp. 
Col.  Rutherford  Trowbridge,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Col.  Charles  A.  Russell.  Aid-de-Camp. 


144  YORKTOWN    CELEBRA"ION. 

Col.  Simeon  J.  Fox,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 

Lieut.  Col.  Henry  C.  Morgan,  Assistant  Quartermaster-GeneraL 

Hon.  Charles  B.  Scales,  Secretary  of  State. 

Hon.  David  P.  Nichols,  Treasurer  of  State. 

Hon.  W.  T.  Batcheller,  Comptroller. 

Brig.  Gen.  S.  R.  Smith,  Commanding  National  Guard,  Conn. 

THE   FIRST   REGIMENT   CONNECTICUT   NATIONAL   (MAKlK 

Col.  Lucius  A.  Barbour,  of  Hartford. 

Lieut.  Col.  William  E.  Cone,  of  Hartford. 

Maj.  Arthur  L.  Goodrich,  of  Hartford. 

Adj.  John  K.  Williams,  of  Hartford. 

Quartermaster  Richard  O.  Chenney,  of  Manchester. 

Paymaster  William  B.  McCray,  of  Hartford. 

Surg.  George  W.  Avery,  of  Hartford. 

Asst.  Surg.  Harman  G.  Howe,  of  Hartford. 

Chaplain  James  A.  Cooper,  of  New  Britain. 

Inspector  Target  Practice  Jabez  L.  Woodbridge,  of  Manchester. 

Serg.  Maj.  William  G.  Simmons,  of  Hartford. 

Quartermaster  Serg.  John  D.  Worthington,  of  Hartford. 

Commissary  Serg.  Wallace  T.  Fenn,  of  Hartford. 

Hospital  Steward  Philo  W.  Newton,  of  Hartford. 

Drum  Maj.  William  C.  Steele,  of  Hartford. 

Fife  Maj.  William  C.  Sparry,  of  Hartford. 

COMPANY  A. 

Germania  Guard  of  Hartford. 
Capt.  William  Westphal;  FirstLieut.  EdwardSchulze;  Second  Lieut.  Henry  F.  Smith. 

COMPANY  B. 
Hillyer  Guard  of  Hartford. 

Capt.  Patrick  Jellovan  ;  First  Lieut.  Thomas  F.  Flanigan  ;  Second  Lieut.  Patrick  H- 

Smith. 

COMPANY  D. 

New  Britain  City  Guard. 

Capt.  Augustus  N.  Bennett;  First.  Lieut.  John  C.  Biugham  ;  Second  Lieut.  Williant 

E.  Allen. 
COMPANY  E. 

Jewell  Guard  of  New  Britain. 
Capt.  Chas   B.  Erichson  ;  First  Lieut.  Fred.  M  Hemenway ;  Second  Lieut.  J.  Lester 

Osgood. 

COMPANY  F. 

Hartford  Citij  Guard. 

Capt.  John  L.  White  :  First  Lieut.  Levi  H.  Hotchkiss;  Second  Lieut.  Geo,  E.  Lee. 

COMPANY  G. 
Manchester  Rifles. 

Capt.  Arthur  B.  Keeney  ;  FirstLieut.  Arthur  J.  Wetherill;  Second  Lieut.  T.  H.  Mont 
gomery.    » 
COMPANY  H. 
Hartford  Liqht  Guard. 
Capt.  George  A.  Cornell ;  First.  Lieut.  Henry  Simon,  jr.  ;  Second  Lieut.  John  W.  Crane. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  145 

COMPANY  K. 

Hartford. 

Cap!.  Thomas  M.  Smith;  First  Lieut.  Charles  E.  Thompson;  Second  Lieut.  Samuel 

O.  Prentice. 


His  Excellency  JOHN  W.  HALL,  Governor. 

Brig.  Gen.  J.  Parke  Postles,  Adjutant-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  D.  C.  Marvel,  Inspector-General. 
Brig.  Gen.  H.  C.  Collison,  Quartermaster-General. 
Col.  Walter  Cummings,  Aid-de-Camp. 
Col.  John  Powder,  Aid-de-Camp. 

FIRST   REGIMENT   DELAWARE    VOLUNTEER  MILITIA. 

Headquarters,  Wilmington,  Delaware. 

Col.  Samuel  A.  McAllister,  of  Wilmington. 

Lieut.  Col.  Samuel  M.  Wood,  of  Wilmington. 

Maj.  A.  R.  Boyle,  of  Dover. 

Surg.  William  Marshall,  of  Milford. 

Adj.  Garrett  J.  Hart,  of  Wilmington. 

Quartermaster  T.  F.  Townsend,  of  Milford. 

COMPANY  A. 

American  Rifles,  of  Wilmington. 
Capt.  Edward  Mitchell,  jr.  ;  First  Lieut.  Charles   Hobson  ;  Second  Lieut.  J.  Frank 

Smith. 

COMPANY  B. 
Torlert  Guards,  of  Milford. 

Capt.    George  William  Marshall;  First  Lieut.  Wm.  H.Harris;  Second  Lieut.  F.  C. 

Wisswell. 
COMPANY  C. 

Dupont  Guards,  of  Wilmington. 
Capt.  John  M.  Curtis  ;  First  Lieut.  A.  D.  Chaytor  ;  Second  Lieut.  Thomas  Rice. 

COMPANY  D. 

Hall  Guards,  of  Dover. 

Capt.  A.    S.  Kirk;    First  Lieut.  George  W.  Pennington  ;  Second  Lieut.  H.  A.  Cul- 

breth. 

COMPANY  E. 

Of  Wyoming,  Delaware. 

Capt.  C.  M.  Carey  ;  Second  Lieut.  John  H.  Walheater. 

/          COMPANY  F. 
Pottle*  8  Rifles,  of  Wilmington. 

Capt.  Oscar  F.  Munda;  First  Lieut.  J.  H.  Munda;  Second  Lieut.  John  S.  White. 


HTJ  SETTS. 

His  Excellency  JOHN  D.  LONG,  Governor. 

Maj.  Gen.  A.  Hun  Berry,  Adjutant  General. 
Col.  Isaac  F.  Kingsbury,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
Col.  Edward  H.  Ha  skeH,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
S.  Rep.  1003  -  10 


146  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

Col.  John  S.  Lockwood,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 

Col.  Edmund  H.  Hewins,  Assistant  Inspector-General. 

Col.  Morris  Scliaff,  Assistant  Inspector-General. 

Col.  Samuel  P.  Train,  Assistant  Quartermaster-General. 

Col.  Jedediab  P.  Jordon,  Assistant  Quartermaster-General. 

Col.  Benj.  S.  Lo veil,  Assistant  Quartermaster-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  William  J.  Dale,  Surgeon-General. 

Brig.  Gen.  Wilmon  W.  Blackmar,  Judge  Advocate  General. 

Col.  Thomas  W.  Higgiuson,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  William  O.  Fiske,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  William  F.  Draper,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Edward  T.  Bouve,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  William  M.  Olin,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Brig.  Gen.  Eben  Sutton,  First  Brigade  M.  V.  M.,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Brig.  Gen.  Hoboat  Moore,  Second  Brigade  M.  V.  M.,  Aid-de-Camp. 

Col.  Nat.  Wales,  First  Regiment  M.  V.  M. 

B.  F.  Bridges,  Second  Regiment. M.  V.  M. 

E.  J.  Troul,  Fiftb  Regiment  M.  V.  M. 

Melville  Beal,  Sixtb  Regiment  M.  V.  M. 

B.  F.  Peach,  Eighth  Regiment  M.  V..  M. 

Lieut.  Col.  Samuel  Daltoo,  Second  Corps  Independent  Cadets. 

Maj.  G.  S.  Merrill,  First  Battalion  Artillery,  M.  V.  M. 

Maj.  Dexter  H.  Follett,  First  Batallion  Cavalry,  M.  V.  M. 

Lieutenant-Governor  Byron  Weston. 

The  Governor's  Council— Eight  members. 

Hon.  Daniel  A.  Gleason,  Treasurer  and  Receiver-General. 

Hon.  Charles  R.  Ladd,  Auditor. 

Hon.  Henry  B.  Pierce,  Secretary  of  State. 

Hon.  George  Marston,  Attorney-General. 

O.  F.  Mitchell,  Sergeaut-at-Arms. 

Hon.  R.  R.  Bishop,  President  of  the  Senate. 

Hon.  C.  J.  Noyes,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  members  of  the  Committee  on  Federal  Relations. 

Hon.  A.  W.  Beard,  Collector  of  the  port  of  Boston. 

Hon.  N.  P.  Banks,  U.  S.  Marshal  for  Massachusetts. 

Hon.  F.  O.  Prince,  Mayor  of  Boston. 

General  A.  P.  Martin. 

NINTH   REGIMENT  MASSACHUSETTS   VOLUNTEER   MILITIA. 

Headquarters,  Boston.     Organized  llth  Juno,  1861. 
Col.  Wm.  M.  Strachan,  Commanding. 
Lieut.  Col.  Lawrence  J.  Logan. 
Majors  Geo.  A.  J.  Colgan,  P.  J.  Grady. 
Adj.  David  McGuire. 
Quartermaster  S.  S.  Rankin. 
Surg.  James  A.  Fleming. 
Assist.  Surg.  M.  C.  Noonan. 
Paymaster  John  Lyons. 
Chaplain  J.  P.  Egan. 

Non-commissioned  Staff. 
Serg.  Maj.  T.  F.  McDonough. 
Quartermaster  Sorg.  M.  T.  Breunan. 
Hospital  Steward  Stephen  Sullivan. 
Drum  Maj.  R.  E.  Barry. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  147 

FIRST  BATTALION. 

COMPANY  I). 
Capt.  F.  B.  Bogaii;  First  Lieut.  F.  H.  Rice;  Second  Lieut.  Edward  O'Brien. 

COMPANY  F. 
O«pt.  D.  F.  Dolan  ;  First  Lieut.  W.  H.  Donovan  ;  Second  Lieut.  E.  A.  McCarthy. 

COMPANY  G. 
Capt.  J.  J.  Barry;  First  Lieut.  J.  H.  Essem  ;  Second  Lieut.  M.  J.  Mitchell. 

COMPANY  H. 
Capt.  J.  F.  Madigan  ;  First  Lieut.  J.  J.  Foley;  Second  Lieut.  J.  H.  Ettridge. 

SECOND    BATTALION. 

COMPANY  A. 
Capt.  P.  C.  Reardon  ;  First  Lieut.  John  J.  Boyle;  Second  Lieut.  J.  M.  Doherty. 

COMPANY  C. 
Capt.  F.  McCaffrey;  First  Lieut.  James  White;  Second  Lieut.  J.  H.  Nugent. 

COMPANY  E. 
Capt.  L.  J.  Ford;  First  Lieut.  F.F.  Dougherty;  Second  Lieut.  P.  F.  Fitzgerald. 

COMPANY  B. 
Capt.  P.  H.  Cronin;  First  Lieut.  J.  W.  Muhoney;  Second  Lieut.  E.  W.  Hagerty. 


His  Excellency  F.  W.  M.  HOLLIDAY,  Governor. 

Seven  Aids-de-Camp. 
Brig.  Gen.  James  McDonald,  Adjutant-General. 

FIRST  BRIGADE  VIRGINIA  VOLUNTEER  MILITIA. 
Brig.  Gen.  Fitzhugh  Lee. 

Assistant  Adjutant-General,  Maj.  J.  Addison  Pattison. 
Inspector-General,  Maj.  James  P.  Rodgers. 
Brigade  Surgeon,  Maj.  George  Ben.  Johnston. 
Aid-de-Camp,  Capt.  B.  H.  Fowle. 
Aid  de-Camp,  Capt.  Court-laud  H.  Smith. 

FIRST   REGIMENT   VIRGINIA  INFANTRY. 

Headquarters,  Richmond,  Va. 

Colonel,  J  hn  B.  Purcell. 
Lieutenant-Colonel   Charles  J.  Anderson. 
Major,  Jo  Lane  Stern. 
Adjutant,  Capt.  John  H.  Dinneeu. 
Surgeon,  Maj.  L.  B.  Edwards. 
Chaplain,  Moses  B.  Hoge. 
Quartermaster,  Capt.  Charles  P.  Bigger. 
Ordnance  Officer,  Capt.  Cyrus  Bossieux. 
Assistant  Surgeon,  Capt.  George  Ben.  Johnston. 
Sergeant-Major,  J.  R.  V.  Daniel. 
Quartermaster-Sergeant,  W.  B.  Riddick. 
Hospital  Steward,  W.  E.  Pearce. 


148  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

COMPANY  A. 
Richmond  Grays. 

Capt.  Louis  J.  Bossieux ;  First  Lieut.  James  E.  Phillips  ;  Second  Lieut.  John  E. 

Laugbton. 

COMPANY  B. 

Walker  Light  Guard. 

Capt.  Henry  C.Jones;  First  Lieu  t.  W.  R.  Burgess;  Second  Lieut.  A.  L.  Bargamin. 

COMPANY  C. 

11  Guard  of  the  Commonwealth." 
Capt.  M.  L.  Spotswood ;  First  Lieut.  G.  Kennou  Wren ;  Second  Lieut.  W.  D.  Davis. 

COMPANY  D. 

"Sidney  Grays." 

Capt.  L.  E.  Brown;  First  Lieut.  H.  B.  Owen;  Second  Lieut.  Ro.  Harrold. 

COMPANY  E. 

"Governor's  Guard." 

Capt.  J.  H.  Parater ;  First  Lieut.  A.  L.  Phillips ;  Second  Lieut.  R.  E.  Jones. 

COMPANY  F. 
Capt.  Tazewell  Ellett ;  First  Lieut.  A.  L.  Ellett,  jr. ;  Second  Lieut.  C.  S.  Crenshaw. 

COMPANY  H. 
Capt.  A.  K.  Snyder;  First  Lieut.  W.  D.  Winston;  Second  Lieut.  C.  B.  Neale. 

SECOND   REGIMENT   (VALLEY)   VIRGINIA   VOLUNTEERS. 

Headquarters,  Stauuton,  Va. 
Colonel  W.  L.  Bumgarduer,  of  Stauuton. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  O.  B.  Roller,  of  Harrisouburg. 
Major  J.  W.  Magruder,  of  Woodstock. 
Adjutant  H.  H.  Downing,  of  Front  Royal. 

COMPANY  A. 

Warren   Light  Infantry. 
Capt.  C.  A.  Macatee;  First  Lieut.  Ed.  H.  Jackson;  Second  Lieut.  G.  O.  Leach. 

COMPANY  B. 

West  Augusta  Guard  of  Staunton. 

Capt.  John  McQnade;  First  Lieut.  Thos.  J.  Crowder;  Second  Lieut.  James  T.  Byers; 
Junior  Second  Lieut.  Win.  B.  Logan. 

%         COMPANY  C. 

Harrisonburg  Guards  of  Harrisonburg. 

Capt.  John  Donovan  ;  First  Lieut.  L.  C.  Myers;  Second  Lieut.  John  P.  Kerr;  Junior 
Secoud  Lieut.  James  M.  Warren. 

COMPANY  F. 

Winchester  Light  Infantry. 

Capt.  John  J.   Williams;   First  Lieut.  A.M.  Baker;  Second  Lieut.  Fred.  Blankner; 
Junior  Second  Lieut.  R.  E.  Trenary. 

THIRD    JIKGIMENT   VIRGINIA   INFANTRY. 

Headquarters,  Charlottes ville. 
Colonel,  Charles  C.  Wertenbaker,  Charlottesville. 
Lieat6nant-Colonel,  Kirkwood  Otey,  Lynchburg. 
Major,  Francis  L.  Smith,  Alexandria. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  149 

Adjutant,  Capt.  R.  F.  Farley,  Danville. 
Quartermaster,  Capt.  S.  L.  Cooper,  Culpeper. 
Commissary,  Capt.  J.  C.  Culm,  Charlottesville. 
Surgeon,  Zenus  Barnuin,  Warrenton. 
Assistant  Surgeon,  E.  A.  Stabler,  Alexandria. 
Chaplain,  R.  R.  Acree,  Lyncliburg. 

COMPANY  A. 
Danville  Grays. 

Capt.  Albert  Gerst;  First  Lieut.  W.  T.  Hutehings;  Second  Lieut.  J.  W.  Easley, 
Junior  Second  Lieut.  W.  P.  Arnett. 

COMPANY  B. 

"  Culpeper  Minute  Men." 

Capt.  William  Nalle j  First  Lieut.  H.  C.  Burrows;  Second  Lieut.  J.  T.  Harris. 

COMPANY  C. 

"  Warrenton  Rifles." 

Capt.  Greenville  Gaines;  Second  Lieut.  T.  A.  Maddux;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  W.Payne. 

COMPANY  D. 

"  Monticello  Guards,"  Charlottesville. 

Capt.  Micajah  Woods;  First  Lieut.  James  Blakey;  Second  Lieut.  Poindexter  Drane; 
Junior  Second  Lieut.  T.  S.  Keller. 

COMPANY  E. 
Home  Guard,   Lijnchburg. 

Capt.  W.  C.  Biggers;  First  Lieut.  Ridge  way  Holt;  Second  Lieut.  Elwyn  A.  Biggers; 
Junior  Second  Lieut.  M.  P.  Davis. 

COMPANY  F. 

"Alexandria  Light  Infantry." 

Capt.  George  McBurney,  jr. ;  First  Lieut.  F.  F.  Marbury;  Second  Lieut.  George  S. 

Smith;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  Samuel  L.  Monroe. 

Regimental  Baud. 

FOURTH   REGIMENT   VIRGINIA   INFANTRY. 

Headquarters,  Williamsbtirg,  Va. 
Capt.  Richard  A.  Wise,  senior  Captain,  Commanding. 

"WISE  LIGHT  INFANTRY." 
Williamsbnrg,  Fa. 

Capt.  Richard  A.  Wise;  First  Lieut.  John  L.  Mercer;  Second  Lieut.  T.  L.  Soufchall; 
Third  Lieut.  H.  T.  Armistead ;  Surg.  John  A.  Young,  M.  D. 
"  The  Marshall  Cornet  Band." 
SUFFOLK  GRAYS. 

Suffolk,  Va. 

Capt.  Thosmas.W.  Smith;  First  Lieut.   Benjamin  F.    Cutchins,  jr.;  Second  Lieut. 

John  T.  Riddick  ;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  George  T.  Parker. 

PENINSULA  GUARDS. 

Hampton,  Va. 

Capt.  S.  B.  Wood;  First  Lieut.  William  T.  Daugherty;  Second  Lieut.  G.  M,  Rich- 

ter ;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  W.  J.  Stores. 

OLD  DOMINION  GUARD. 

Portsmouth,  Va. 

Oapt.  H.  C.  Hudgins;  First  Lieut.  James  H.  Walker;  Second  Lieut.  James  M.  Bin- 
ford  ;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  John  W.  Wood. 


150  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

RICHMOND  LIGHT  INFANTRY  BLUES. 
Capt.  John  S.  Wise ;  First  Lieut.  Thomas  M.  Page, 

NORFOLK  CITY  GUARD. 
Capt.  C.  A.  Nash;  First  Lieut.  H.Hodges;  Second  Lieut.  C.  C.  Lee;  Junior  Second 

Lieut.  T.  B.  Jackson. 

UNATTACHED    COMPANIES. 

FARMVILLE  GUARDS. 

Farm v Hie,  Va. 
Capt.  W.  S.  Paulett;  First  Lieut.  P.  H.  C.  Rice;  Second  Lieut.  W.  T.  Doyne. 

BATTALION  OF  CADETS  VIRGINIA  MILITARY  INSTITUTE. 
(Officers  not  reported.) 

THE  CADETS  OF  SAINT  JOHN'S  ACADEMY. 

Alexandria. 

Major  Wilfred  C.  Potter,  Commanding. 
Adjutant  Bullard  E.  Dodd,  of  Norfolk. 

Sergeant-Major  Beauregard  Clarke,  of  Anne  Aruudel  County,  Maryland. 
Color-Sergeant  H.  B.  F.  Heath,  of  Washington,  D.  C. 
Quartermaster-Sergeant  J.  J.  Walsh,  of  Washington,  D.  C. 
Commissary-Sergeant  J.  E.  Swaine,  of  Alexandria,  Va. 

COMPANY  A. 

Capt.  D.  H.  Jones,  of  Shenandoah  County,  Va. ;  First  Lieut.  F.  T.    Chamberlin,  of 
Washington,  D.  C. ;  Second  Lieut.  G.  J.  Kerby,  of  Alexandria,  Va. 

COMPANY  B. 

Capt.  Frank  F.  De  Lea,  of  Chicago,  III. ;  First  Lieut.  Charles  Bendheim,  of  Alex 
andria,  Va. ;  Second  Lieut.  F.  H.  Schneider,  of  Alexandria,  Va. 

GLOUCESTER  CAVALRY. 
(Officers  not  reported.) 

FIRST   BATTALION   VIRGINIA  ARTILLERY. 

Headquarters,  Richmond. 
Major :  Henry  C.  Carter,  Commanding. 
Adjutant :  Capt.  Carlton  McCartney. 
Surgeon:  Maj.  Christopher  Tompkins. 
Assistant  Surgeon :  Capt.  W.  E.  Harwood. 
Ordnance  Officer:  First  Lieut.  W.  H.  Aborn. 
Quartermaster:  First  Lieut.  R.  C.  M.Wingfield. 
Commissary :  First  Lieut.  J.  Herbert  Stiff. 
Chaplain  :  First  Lieut.  J.  William  Jones. 

NORFOLK  LIGHT  ARTILLERY  BLUES. 

Capt.  James  W.  Gilmer;  First  Lieut.  H.  C.  Whitehead;  Junior  First  Lieut.  J.  A. 

Walton ;  Second  Lieut.  George  W.  Gordon. 

Battery  of  four  three-inch  rifled  guns. 

PETERSBURG  ARTILLERY. 

Capt.  J.  S.  Clary ;  First  Lieut.  G.  W.  Vaughan ;  Second  Lieut.  John  Treshein. 
Battery  of  four  12-pounder  Napoleons. 

RICHMOND  HOWITZERS. 

Capt.E.  J.  Bosher;  First  Lieut.  W.  E.  Simons;  Junior  First  Lieut.  F.  H.  McGuire. 
Battery  of  four  three-inch  rifled  guns. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  151 

UNATTACHI.l)    KATTKRY. 

LYNCHBURG  LIGHT  ARTILLERY  BLUES. 

Capt.  Frank  T.  Lee;  First  Lieut.  Charles  Munday;  Junior  First  Lieut.  Mosby  H. 

Payne;  Second  Lieut.  William  H.  Dudley. 

Battery  of  four  6-pouiider  bronze  guns. 

FIRST  BATTALION   VIRGINIA   COLORED   INFANTRY. 

Headquarters,  Richmond,  Va. 

Major  R.  A.  Johnson,  Commanding;  Adjutant  J.  B.  Johnson;  Quartermaster  Samuel 
Clarkson ;  Commissary  John  Graves ;  Surg.  J.  C.  Ferguson. 

ATTUCKS  GUARDS. 

Richmond. 

Capt.  Josiah  Crump ;  First  Lieut.  Thomas  W.  Walker ;  Second  Lieut.  Samuel  Sulli 
van. 
CARNEY  GUARD. 

Richmond. 

Capt.  John  D.  Booker ;  First  Lieut.  C.  B.  Nicholas ;  Second  Lieut.  N.  P.  Price. 

UNION  GUARD. 

Manchester. 

Capt.  J.  H.  Cunningham ;  First  Lieut.  J.  B.  Johnson ;  Second  Lieut.  William  Bailey. 

VIRGINIA  GRAYS. 

Richmond. 
Capt.  Benjamin  Scott ;  First  Lieut.  W.  M.  Mickens;  Second  Lieut.  W.  H.  Banister. 

RICHMOND  LIGHT  INFANTRY. 
Capt.  W.  H.  Tinsley ;  First  Lieut.  W.  H.  Bannister ;  Second  Lieut.  B.  F.  Dabury. 

SECOND   BATTALION   VIRGINIA   COLORED   INFANTRY. 

Headquarters,  Norfolk,  Va. 
Major,  William  H.  Palmer,  Commanding. 
Adjutant,  First  Lieut.  Moses  F.  Jordan. 
Quartermaster,  First  Lieut.  Israel  E.  Whitehurst. 
Commissary,  First  Lieut.  Jeffrey  T.  Wilson. 
Chaplain,  First  Lieut.  E.  H.  Bolden. 
LANGSTON  GUARDS. 

Xorfolk,  Va. 

[Organized  November  7,  1873.] 

Capt.   Peter  Shepherd,  jr.;  First   Lieut.  S.  S.Reid;  Second  Lieut.  A.  S.  Brown. 

NATIONAL  GUARDS. 

Norfolk,    Ya. 

Capt.  E.  W.  Gould  :  First  Lieut.  T.  E.  Wisher;  Second  Lieut.  C.  H.  Robinson. 

HANNIBAL  GUARDS. 

Norfolk,  Va. 

Capt.  William.  H.  Mills;  First  Lieut.  J.  H.  Smith;  Second  Lieut.  A.  A.  Miller. 

VIRGINIA  GUARD. 

Portsmouth. 

Capt.  J.  E.  Manning;  First  Lieut.  G.  W.  Gordon;  Second  Lieut.  J.  T.  White. 
SEABOARD  ELLIOTT  GRAYS. 

Portsmouth. 

Capt.   J.   O.  Corprew;  First  Lieu*.   L.    L.    Rooks;    Second  Lieut.    W.    H.   Ackis ; 

Third  Lieut.  G.  L.  Blunt. 


152  YORKTOWN  CELEBRATION. 

UNATTACHED  COMPANIES  COLORED  INFANTRY. 
STATE  GUAKD. 

Richmond. 

Capt.   R.  A.  Paul;    First  Lieut.  H.  C.  Gilliam ;    Second  Lieut.  1).  W.   A.  Frazer  ; 

;  Junior  Second  Lieut.  Scott  Emmett. 

HILL  CITY  GUARD. 

Lynchburg. 

Capt.  Z.  A.  Langley;  First  Lieut.:  Samuel  Campbell. 

DOUGLASS  GUARD. 

Danville, 

Capt.  W.J.Reid;  First  Lieut.  W.  H.  Jones;  Second  Lieut.  Archie  Robinson  ;  Junior 

Second  Lieut.  D.  D.  Williams. 

LIBBY  GUARD. 

Hampton. 
Capt.  James  A.  Fields;  First  Lieut.  J.  M.  Simpson;  Second  Lieut.  William  Randall. 

LYMCHBURG  VIRGINIA  GUARD. 
Capt.  J.  H.  Merchant :  First  Lieut.  Marcollus  Isbell ;  Second  Lieut.  John  W.  Johnson. 

PETERSBURG  GUARD. 

Capt.  J.  H.  Hill ;  First  Lieut.  C.  C.  McKeuzie;  Second  Lieut.  W.  F.  Jackson. 

FLIPPER  GUARDS. 

Petersburg. 
Capt.  James  E.  Hill ;  First  Lieut.  Edward  Randolph ;  Second  Lieut.  E.  J.  Archer. 

PETERSBURG  BLUES. 
Capt.  P.  L.  Farley;  First  Lieut.  Jacob  Johnson;  Second  Lieut.  James  M.  Farley. 

This  list  is  believed  to  comprise  all  organizations  who  reported,  as 
requested  by  the  circular  of  Lieut.  Col.  H.  C.  Corbin,  master  of  cere 
monies. 


CO-OPERATION  OF  THE  NAVY  IN   THE  YORKTOWN  CENTENNIAL 

CELEBRATION. 

The  representatives  of  the  French  Republic,  with  officers  and  others 
invited  to  be  present  at  the  Centennial  Anniversary  at  Yorktown,  were 
received  at  New  York,  October  5,  1881,  by  the  vessels  of  the  North  At 
lantic  Squadron,  under  the  command  of  Rear- Admiral  Kobert  H.  Wyman. 
The  vessels  present  on  the  occasion  were  the  Tennessee,  flagship,  the 
Vandalia,  Kearsarge,  and  Yantic.  In  company  with  the  French  dis 
patch  vessel,  Dumont  D'Urville,  these  vessels  left  their  anchorage  in 
the  North  Eiver,  off  New  York,  and  awaited  off  Staten  Island  the  ar 
rival  of  the  steamship  Canada,  bearing  the  French  guests.  On  the 
approach  of  the  Canada,  she  was  boarded  by  the  flag-lieutenant  to  the 
rear-admiral  commanding  the  squadron,  with  offers  of  service,  and  a 
salute  of  twenty-one  guns  was  fired  in  honor  of  the  guests,  the  crews  of 


YOKKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  153 

the  squadron  cheering  during  the  salute.  The  squadron  then  accom 
panied  the  Canada,  as  an  escort,  up  the  river  to  her  wharf. 

The  descendants  of  Baron  Steuben,  who  had  been  invited  to  be  pres 
ent  at  the  York  town  Celebration,  were  received  at  New  York,  on  their 
arrival  from  Hamburg,  by  the  U.  S.  Steamer  Kearsarge,  which  had 
been  detailed  for  this  service  by  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the  North 
Atlantic  Station.  October  13,  the  steamship  Herder,  bearing  Baron 
Steuben's  descendants,  arrived  at  the  New  York  quarantine  station. 
A  visit  and  offer  of  service  were  made  to  her  from  the  Kearsarge,  the  ship 
was  cheered,  and  a  salute  of  fifteen  guns  was  fired,  with  the  German 
ensign  displayed  at  the  fore. 

Preparatory  to  the  celebration  at  Yorktowu,  all  the  vessels  available 
for  this  service  were  assembled  there,  forming  a  fleet,  which  was  placed 
under  the  general  command  of  the  Admiral  of  the  Navy.  The  fleet 
was  composed  of  the  Tennessee,  Kearsarge,  Vaudalia,  and  Yantic, 
under  Rear- Admiral  Robert  H.  Wyraan  ;  the  Saratoga  and  Portsmouth, 
of  the  Training  Squadron,  under  Capt.  Stephen  B.  Luce ;  and  the 
Franklin,  Trenton,  Alarm,  and  Speedwell,  vessels  specially  ordered  to 
Yorktown  for  the  occasion.  The  Tallapoosa,  the  Despatch,  and  the 
tugs  Fortune,  Mayflower,  and  Standish  served  as  dispatch  vessels  and 
tenders  to  the  fleet.  Admiral  David  D.  Porter  arrived  at  Yorktown  on 
October  14,  and  was  saluted  with  seventeen  guns  by  the  flagship  Ten- 
ijessee. 

Maj.  Gen.  Wiufield  S.  Hancock  visited  the  flag-ship  Tennessee  on 
the  15th,  and  was  saluted  with  fifteen  guns  on  his  departure. 

On  the  morning  of  October  18th,  the  day  on  which  the  celebration 
opened,  the  fleet  was  full-dressed,  in  rainbow  fashion,  with  signal  flags. 
The  President  of  the  United  States  arrived  at  Yorktowu,  on  board  the 
Despatch,  in  company  with  the  Alarm,  Speedwell,  and  Tallapoosa.  A 
national  salute  of  twenty  one  guns  was  fired  in  his  honor,  and  yards 
were  manned  on  board  the  vessels  of  the  fleet.  At  10.30  a.  m.  the 
Trenton  became  the  flagship  of  the  Cominander-m-Chief  of  the  fleet, 
firing  a  salute  of  seventeen  guns,  and  hoisting  the  flag  of  the  Admiral 
of  the  Navy.  General  William  T.  Sherman,  accompanied  by  his  staff, 
visited  the  Tennessee,  and  was  saluted  with  seventeen  guns.  At  noon, 
the  vessels  of  the  fleet  fired  a  national  salute  of  twenty-one  guns.  During 
the  afternoon  the  French  vessels  Magicienne,  flag-ship,  and  Dumont 
D'Urville  arrived  at  Yorktown,  the  former  saluting  the  flag  of  the  Ad 
miral,  Commander-in-chief,  with  seventeen  guns.  The  Rear- Admiral 
commanding  the  French  squadron  visited  the  Trenton  and  Tennessee, 
and  was  saluted  with  thirteen  guns  on  his  departure  from  each  vessel . 
The  Commaiider-m-Chief  was  saluted  with  seventeen  guns  by  the  Ten 
nessee  on  his  departure  from  a  visit  to  that  vessel.  During  the  evening 
there  was  a  display  of  fire-works  with  rockets  and  signal  lights,  and  a 
general  illumination  of  the  fleet  with  colored  lanterns. 

October  19th  the  Governor  of  Vermont,  the  Hon.  Roswell  Farnham, 


154  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

accompanied  by  his  staff,  visited  the  Tennessee,  and  a  salute  of  seven 
teen  gnus  was  fired  on  the  occasion.  The  President  of  the  United 
States  was  received  on  board  the  flag-ships  Trenton  and  Tennessee,  the 
yards  of  the  fleet  being  manned,  and  salutes  of  twenty-one  guns  fired 
on  his  departure. 

October  20th  a  naval  brigade  was  formed  from  the  crews  of  the  fleet 
and  landed  to  participate  in  the  review  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States  of  the  military  force  present,  under  the  command  of  Maj.  Gen. 
Winfield  S.  Hancock.  The  brigade  was  composed  of  four  battal 
ions  of  blue-jackets,  equipped  for  shore  service  as  infantry;  ou-e  battal 
ion  of  marines  as  infantry,  and  a  battalion  of  artillery,  consisting  of 
eight  pieces  from  the  training-ship  Saratoga.  The  lauding  was  made 
in  the  boats  of  the  fleet,  directed  by  signal  from  the  Tennessee,  and 
maneuvered  in  accordance  with  the  naval  signal  codes.  Ou  landing, 
the  brigade  was  formed  in  the  line  of  review  under  the  following  offi 
cers:  Capt.  Richard  W.  Meade,  commanding;  Lieut.  Hamilton  Per 
kins,  adjutant-  general ;  Paymaster  John  MacMahon,  quartermaster; 
Chief  Engineer  William  D.  Smith,  engineer;  and  Ensigns  Fidelio  S. 
Carter  and  Charles  C.  Rogers,  aids. 

During  the  afternoon  a  general  sail  drill  was  held,  and  the  fleet  ex 
ercised  in  making,  shortening,  and  furling  sails,  and  shifting  topsails, 
by  general  signal  from  the  flag-ship  of  the  Admiral,  commander-in- 
ehief.  On  the  occasion  of  a  visit  of  the  Hon.  George  C.  Ludlow,  Gov 
ernor  of  ISTew  Jersey,  to  the  flag-ship  Tennessee,  a  salute  of  seventeen 
guns  was  fired  from  that  vessel. 

At  the  close  of  the  day  a  national  salute  was  fired  by  the  fleet,  with 
the  English  ensign  displayed  at  the  main.  This  salute  was  fired  in 
compliance  with  the  following  general  order  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States : 

[GENERAL  ORDER.] 

In  recognition  of  the  friendly  relations  so  long  and  so  happily  subsisting  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States;  in  the  trust  and  confidence  of  peace  and  good 
will  between  the  two  countries  for  all  the  centuries  to  come,  and  especially  as  a  mark 
of  the  profound  respect  entertained  by  the  American  people  for  the  illustrious  sover 
eign  and  gracious  lady  who  sits  upon  the  British  throne,  it  is  hereby  ordered  that  at 
the  close  of  these  services,  commemorative  of  the  valor  and  success  of  our  forefathers 
in  their  patriotic  struggle  for  Independence,  the  British  flag  shall  be  saluted  by  the 
forces  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States  now  at  Yorktown.  The  Secretary 
of  War  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  will  give  orders  accordingly. 

CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR. 
By  the  President : 

JAMES  G.  BLAINE, 

Secretary  of  Stale. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  155 

After  the  salute  had  beeu  fired  to  the  British  flag,  the  Despatch,  with 
the  President  of  the  United  States  on  board,  got  under  way  and 
steamed  out  of  the  harbor,  while  a  national  salute  was  fired  and  the 
yards  were  manned  in  the  fleet  and  French  squadron.  The  Talla- 
poosa,  bearing  the  Hon.  David  Davis,  President  pro  tempore  of  the 
Senate,  soon  after  left  the  harbor,  followed  by  the  Speedwell,  with  the 
General  of  the  Army  on  board,  accompanied  by  his  staff. 

October  22d  the  Portsmouth  and  Saratoga  left  Yorktown  Harbor, 
followed  by  the  Trenton.  Later  the  French  vessels  Magicienne  and 
Dumoiit  D'Urville  went  to  sea.  The  Franklin  was  towed  out  of  the 
harbor  by  the  Vandalia,  followed  by  the  Kearsarge  and  the  tugs  Stand- 
ish  and  Fortune.  October  24th  the  dispersion  of  the  fleet  was  completed 
by  the  departure  of  the  Tennessee,  flag-ship  of  the  Xorth  Atlantic 
Squadron,  in  company  with  the  Yantic. 

UNITED  STATES  ENGINEER  OFFICE, 

Baltimore,  Md.,  January  20,  1882. 

DEAR  SIR  :  As  requested,  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  below  a  report 
of  my  proceedings,  under  your  direction,  in  connection  with  the  recent 
Centennial  celebration  at  Yorktown,  Ya.  This  report  has  been  unavoid 
ably  delayed  to  this  time,  owing  to  the  pressure  of  other  duties  which 
could  not  be  postponed. 

On  the  24th  of  February,  1881,  a  letter  was  received  from  the  Adju 
tant-General  of  the  Army,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy : 

WAR  DEPARTMENT,  ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S  OFFICE, 

Washington,  February  21,  1881. 

SIR:  The  Joint  Committee  of  Congress  on  the  Yorktown  Monument  (appointed 
under  the  act  of  June  7,  1880— see  General  Order  48  of  1880),  has  requested  the  Secre 
tary  of  War  to  " detail  an  officer  of  the  Army  to  take  charge  of  grounds  at  Yorktown, 
to  he  selected  hy  the  Committee  for  the  purpose  of  the  Centennial  celebration  in  Octo 
ber  next,  and  to  survey  the  same,  and  assign  their  positions  to  the  various  military 
and  other  organizations  expected  to  be  present."  The  grounds  in  question  have 
already  been  surveyed  by  officers  stationed  at  Fort  Monroe,  Va,,  in  their  course  of  in 
struction,  under  the  orders  of  the  commanding  officer  of  that  post,  and  therefore  prob 
ably  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  resurvey  them. 

The  Secretary  of  War  directs  that,  in  addition  to  your  present  duties,  you  perform 
the  duties  indicated  in  the  request  of  the  Committee,  with  the  exception  of  survey 
ing  the  grounds,  unless  a  resurvey  shall  be  deemed  necessary  by  you ;  and  it  is  sug 
gested  that  you  communicate  with  the  Hon.  J.  W.  Johnston,  United  States  Senate. 
Chairman  of  the  Committee,  with. reference  to  the  duties  you  will  be  desired  to  per- 
form. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

R.  C.  DRUM, 
Adju  tan  t-  G  en  era  1 . 
Lieut.  Col.  WILLIAM  P.  CRAIGHILL, 

Corps  of  Engineet'8. 

(Through  the  Chief  of  Engineers,  United  States  Army.) 


156  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

The  duties  imposed  by  these  instructions  of  the  Secretary  of  Wai- 
were  "to  take  charge  of  grounds  at  Yorktown,  to  be  selected  by  the 
Committee,  for  the  purpose  of  the  Centennial  celebration ;  to  survey 
the  same  and  assign  their  positions  to  the  various  military  and  other 
organizations  expected  to  be  present." 

On  the  day  of  the  receipt  of  the  letter  quoted  above  I  reported  to 
you  by  letter  for  instructions. 

My  duties  were  extended  later  upon  the  reception,  July  25, 1881,  of  a 
letter  of  July  21  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  with  an  inclosure  dated 
July  20,  copies  of  which  follow : 

WAR  DEPARTMENT, 
Washington  City,  July  21,  1881. 

SIR:  I  inclose  herewith,  for  your  information,  a  copy  of  Department  letter  addressed, 
under  date  of  yesterday,  to  the  Hon.  John  W.  Johnston,  Chairman  of  the  Yorktown 
Congressional  Commission,  in  reply  to  one  from  him,  dated  the  1st  instant,  requesting 
that  an  order  be  issued  "  detailing  Lieut.  Col.  William  P.  Craighill,  United  States  En 
gineer  Corps,  to  make  all  necessary  surveys,  lay  out  and  furnish  a  camp,  construct  a 
wharf  or  wharves,  make  provision  for  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  Yorktowii  Monu 
ment,  take  charge  of  the  harbor  and  landings  during  the  celebration,  and  superintend 
the  construction  of  such  temporary  buildings  and  structures  as  may  be  required  for 
the  purpose  of  the  Centennial  at  Yorktown  in  October  next." 
Very  respectfully, 

ROBERT  T.  LINCOLN, 

Secretary  of  War. 
Lieut.  Col.  WILLIAM  P.  CRAIGHILL, 

Corps  of  Engineers,  United  States  Army, 

70  Saratoga  street,  Baltimore,  Md. 

WAR  DEPARTMENT, 
Washington  City,  July  20,  1881. 

SIR:  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  1st  instant, 
requesting,  on  behalf  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Yorktowii  Congressional  Com 
mission,  that  an  order  may  issue  detailing  Lieut.  Col.  William  P.  Craighill,  of  the  En 
gineer  Corps,  "to  make  all  necessary  surveys,  lay  out  and  furnish  a  camp,  construct 
a  wharf  or  wharves,  make  provision  for  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  Yorktown  Mon 
ument,  take  charge  of  the  harbor  and  landings  during  the  celebration,  and  superin 
tend  the  construction  of  such  temporary  buildings  and  structures  as  may  be  required 
for  the  purpose  of  the  Centennial  at  Yorktown  in  October  next." 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Craighill  has  already  been  instructed  in  my  letter  of  the  2d  in 
stant,  of  which  a  copy  is  sent  you  to-day,  to  proceed  with  the  erection  of  the  Monu 
ment  at  Yorktowu.  He  reports  to  me  that  the  wharves  already  built  at  Yorktowu 
will  be  amply  sufficient  for  the  landing  of  materials  in  that  work,  and  I  have  no  funds 
available  for  the  construction  of  others,  or  for  any  expense  connected  merely  with  the 
proposed  celebration  at  Yorktown. 

Capt.  L.  C.'Forsyth,  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department  will,  in  due  time,  put  up 
at  Yorktowii  about  twelve  hundred  hospital  tents,  which  can,  if  necessary,  hold  six 
teen  persons  each,  and  will  retain  control  of  them  with  a  proper  guard.  They  will 
be  occupied  during  the  celebration  by  such  persons,  societies,  and  organizations  as 
shall  be  assigned  to  them  by  your  Committee,  Captain  Forsyth  being  only  responsible 
for  the  safety  and  due  return  of  the  tents.  The  Department  will  not  be  able  to  do 
anything  further  in  the  way  of  providing  for  the  comfort  of  visitors. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Craighill  will  be  authorized  to  report  to  your  Executive  Com 
mittee  for  such  duty  as  it  may  wish  him  to  perform  at  Yorktown  in  carrying  out  your 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  157 

regulations  irsprrtinu  tin-  use  of  the  harbor  and  landings  during  the  celebration,  and 
in  superintending  the  construction  of  such  temporary  buildings  and  structures  a& 
may  be  erected  by  your  Commit  trr. 

A  copy  of  this  letter  \vill  be  sent  to  Lieutenant-Colonel  Craighill. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be.  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT  T.  LINCOLN, 

Secretary  of  War. 
Hon.  JOHN  W.  JOHNSTON,  U.  S.  S., 

Chairman  Yorktown  Congressional  Commission,  Abingdon,  Va. 

\  was  also  assigned  by  the  Secretary  of  War  to  the  charge  of  the  con 
struction  of  the  Monument,  and  to  special  service  on  the  staff  of  Maj. 
Gen.  W.  S.  Hancock  during  the  time  of  his  connection  with  the  cele 
bration.  Special  reports  have  been  made  to  the  Secretary  of  War  and 
to  General  Hancock's  headquarters. 

On  the  24'th  of  February  I  wrote  to  the  commanding  officer  at  Fort 
Monroe,  asking  for  a  copy  of  the  map  of  Yorktown  and  its  environs  made 
by  his  subordinates.  He  very  courteously  and  promptly  sent  me  small 
photographs  of  the  map,  which  were  found  very  useful,  although  it  be 
came  necessary  to  make  extensive  special  surveys  subsequently  for  our 
particular  purposes. 

On  the  13th  of  April  I  was  notified  by  Mr.  J.  S.  Tucker,  secretary  of 
your  Commission,  that  you  desired  me  to  meet  you  at  Yorktown.  Later 
the  meeting  was  fixed  for  May  5,  but  actually  took  place  May  6,  when 
several  of  the  members  of  the  Commission  were  present.  The  Temple 
farm  was  inspected,  which  I  was  then  notified  had  been  procured  for 
the  purposes  of  the  encampment,  &c.,  through  the  efforts  of  the  Citi 
zens'  Centennial  Association,  of  which  Hon.  John  Goode,  of  Virginia, 
was  president,  and  Col.  J.  E.  Peyton,  of  New  Jersey,  was  general  super 
intendent.  Various  matters  connected  with  the  preparations  for  the 
proposed  celebration  were  then  discussed. 

My  next  meeting  with  the  Commission  was  at  the  War  Department, 
May  10.  I  then  suggested  the  importance  of  having  the  assistance  of 
a  quartermaster  belonging  to  the  Regular  Army.  I  ven  tured  also  to  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  presence  of  some  officer  of  high  rank 
would  be  needed  at  Yorktown  to  command  the  regular  and  State  troops 
who  would  be  assembled  there  in  October. 

On  the  18th  of  May  I  received  a  copy  of  Special  Order  112,  from  the 
headquarters  of  the  Army,  directing  Capt.  L.  0.  Forsy  th,  a  quartermas 
ter,  United  States  Army,  to  report  to  me  for  duty  in  connection  with 
the  Yorktown  Celebration. 

On  the  9th  of  June  I  received  your  letter  of  June  7,  requesting  me  to 
have  a  survey  made  as  soon  as  possible  of  fifteen  acres  just  inside  the 
gate  to  the  Temple  farm,  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  which  the  Centen 
nial  Association  at  that  time  proposed  to  donate  to  the  United  States 
as  a  site  for  the  Monument.  This  survey  was  made  under  my  personal 
supervision,  and  the  plat  sent  to  Hon.  John  Goode,  as  requested. 


158  YORKTOWX    CELEBRATION. 

Another  site  was,  however,  afterward  selected  for  the  Monument,  just 
on  the  edge  of  the  town  of  York. 

I  met  the  Commission  again  in  Washington,  at  the  War  Department, 
on  the  29th  and  30th  of  June,  when  various  matters  connected  with  the 
celebration  were  considered.  I  was  at  Torktown  July  7th,  when  the 
site  for  the  Monument  was  finally  decided  upon,  and  the  agreement  for 
its  purchase  made  by  Mr.  Tucker,  acting  for  your  Commission.  Active 
steps  were  then  taken  for  the  procurement  of  the  materials  for  the 
foundations,  so  that  the  corner-stone  might  be  laid  in  October.  A 
special  report  on  this  subject  was  made  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  dated 
November  9,  1881,  a  copy  of  which  is  incorporated  herein  : 

UNITED  STATES  ENGINEER  OFFICE, 

Baltimore,  Md.,  November  9,  1881. 

SIR  :  In  compliance  with  your  instructions  to  furnish  a  report  of  all  proceedings  in 
connection  with  the  Monument  at  Yorktowu  up  to  the  present  time,  I  have  the  honor 
to  make  the  following  statement : 

In  your  letter  of  July  2  I  was  directed  to  take  charge  of  the  erection  of  the  Mon 
ument.  The  same  letter  informed  me  of  the  selection  of  a  design  for  the  Monument 
by  the  Joint  Congressional  Committee,  upon  whom  that  duty  rested  under  the  law. 

The  model,  as  designed  by  the  commission  of  artists,  Mr.  R.  M.  Hunt,  Mr.  Hy. 
Van  Brunt,  and  Mr.  J.  Q.  A.  Ward,  was  sent  to  me  from  your  office  about  the  same 
time. 

The  site  was  selected  by  the  Congressional  Commission,  July  7,  in  my  presence  ; 
was  surveyed  and  laid  off  under  my  personal  supervision.  It  seemed  a  very  appro 
priate  place,  being  just  on  the  edge  of  the  town  of  York,  and  just  within  the  line  of 
defense  of  Cornwallis.  The  Monument  will  be  visible  from  vessels  sailing  on  a  part 
of  Chesapeake  Bay  and  a  large  portion  of  the  York  River. 

In  addition  to  the  model,  Mr.  Hunt,  chairman  of  the  commission  of  artists,  fur 
nished  me  with  a  sketch,  giving  me  additional  information  as  to  the  details  of  the 
Monument. 

The  first  need  was  a  suitable  man  to  superintend  in  person  the  collection  of  the  ma 
terials  for  the  foundations,  none  of  which  were  at  or  near  Yorktown,  except  the  sand, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  have  tliat  hauled  some  distance.  One  of  the  experienced 
overseers,  Mr.  E.  H.  Kirlin,  was  brought  in  from  the  Great  Kanawha  River,  where  he 
had  been  engaged  on  the  locks  and  dams  under  construction  there. 

The  site  was  very  much  covered  with  field-works  erected  by  the  Confederate  forces 
under  General  Magruder.  These  were  leveled  off.  A  pit  was  sunk  near  the  exact 
spot  chosen  for  the  Monument  to  stand  upon.  The  soil  to  a  depth  of  7  feet  was  found 
to  consist  of  fine  sand  in  the  proportion  of  two-thirds,  the  remaining  third  being  red 
clay.  At  a  depth  of  15  or  20  feet,  as  shown  in  lateral  ravines,  was  found  a  pure  red 
clay  over  a  soft  conglomerate  of  shells  and  sandstone.  It*  was  determined,  in  accord 
ance  with  the  liberty  granted  by  your  letter  of  instructions,  to  make  the  foundations 
of  concrete.  The  broken  stone  was  procured  in  Richmond,  by  purchase  in  open  mar 
ket,  as  time  was  too  short  to  allow  of  advertising  for  proposals,  &c.  The  stone  came 
from  the  same  quarries  which  have  furnished  so  much  of  the  material  for  the  new 
State,  War,  and  Navy  Departments  in  Washington.  The  cement  was  bought  in  Bal 
timore.  The  bottom  of  the  base  of  the  Monument  was  fixed  by  the  commission  of 
artists  as  a  square,  with  sides  of  30£  feet,  and  receding  in  steps  to  a  square  whose  sides 
are  about  20  feet  each.  The  foundations  of  concrete  were  made  6  feet  deep,  square  in 
plan,  41  feet  on  the  side  at  bottom,  31|  feet  on  the  sides  at  tops,  and  amounting  to  316£ 
cubic  yards,  including  the  corner-stone. 

The  corner-stone  was  in  two  parts,  the  principal  piece  being  4|  feet  long,  4  feet 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  159 

wide,  and  2£  feet  deep,  covered  by  a  cap-stone  of  the  same  length  and  breadth,  and 
1  foot  thick.  The  hole  in  the  lower  stone,  of  which  the  dimensions  were  fixed  by  the 
Masons  to  contain  a  copper  box,  was  2£  feet  long,  2  feet  wide,  and  18  inches  deep. 
The  dimensions  of  the  corner-stone  wore  so  arranged  that  the  box  should  have  on 
every  side  of  it  a  thickness  of  1  foot  of  stone.  The  stone  itself  was  put  in  so  deep  in 
the  foundations  as  to  be  entirely  imbedded  in  concrete,  and  to  have  one  foot  of  concrete 
over  it. 

It  may  be  appropriately  stated  here  that  the  material  of  the  corner-stone  was  fur 
nished  without  cost  by  the  Granite  Company  of  Richmond,  of  which  Col.  R.  Suowden 
Andrews  is  president.  He  also  kindly  loaned  the  derrick  with  which  the  cap-stono 
was  put  in  place  by  the  Masons  on  the  18th  of  October. 

When  the  ceremonies  of  the  Centennial  celebration  were  over  the  remainder  of  the 
concrete  foundations  were  put  in  place,  the  corner-stone  being  thus  entirely  covered 
up.  The  tools  used  were  stored  at  Yorktown  without  expense  to  the  United  States. 
The  site  was  left  in  the  charge  of  a  respectable  colored  man,  who  lives  in  the  small, 
cheap,  frame  house,  about  12  feet  square  (a  single  room),  near  the  foundations,  used  as 
an  office  during  work  on  them,  and  to  be  so  used  again  when  the  construction  of  the 
Monument  begins.  He  serves  without  other  compensation  than  the  privilege  of  liv 
ing  in  this  little  house. 

******* 

It  is  not  expected  that  anything  more  will  be  done  toward  the  construction  of  the 
Monument  until  after  the  cession  of  jurisdiction  over  the  site  by  the  legislature  of  Vir 
ginia,  which  will  meet,  it  is  understood,  in  January  next.  Meantime  a  suitable  form 
of  act  of  cession  will  be  prepared  and  submitted  for  your  consideration. 

A  map  of  the  site  and  its  surroundings  will  be  prepared  as  soon  as  other  more  urgent 
duties  permit. 

It  should  be  stated  that  scrupulous  care  has  been  taken  to  prevent  any  item  of  ex 
pense  due  to  the  "ceremonies"  of  the  Centennial  celebration  being  charged  to  the 
Monument  fund. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  P.  CRAIGHILL, 

Lieutenant- Colonel  of  Engineers. 
Hon.  ROBERT  T.  LINCOLN, 

Secretary  of  War,  Washington,  D.  C. 

On  the  9th  of  July  I  prepared  and  submitted  to  the  Commission  a  cir 
cular,  as  given  immediately  below,  which,  after  considerable  modifica 
tion  and  the  lapse  of  a  good  deal  of  time,  was  extensively  distributed: 

CIRCULAR. 

The  Congressional  Committee,  in  charge  of  the  Centennial  celebration  at  Yorktown 
in  October  next,  expect  to  provide  a  camping  ground  for  military  and  other  organiza 
tions  who  may  be  present  on  that  occasion.  Those  from  each  State  will  be  located 
together,  as  far  as  practicable,  as  it  is  supposed  such  an  arrangement  will  be  most 
agreeable  to  all.  As  it  is  desirable  to  have  all  organizations  comfortably  established 
before  the  ceremonies  begin,  so  that  as  far  as  possible  confusion  may  be  avoided  dur 
ing  these  ceremonies,  it  is  urgently  requested  that  all  who  are  coming  will  be  on  the 
ground  not  later  than  Saturday,  October  15.  The  ceremonies  will  commence  October 
18,  and  continue  four  days.  A  programme  of  them  will  be  fully  made  known  in  due 
time. 

As  many  tents  will  be  provided  as  possible,  but  it  is  recommended  to  all  to  make 
provision  for  themselves  in  this  respect.  Water  for  drinking  and  cooking  will  be  pro 
vided  in  reasonable  quantities,  and  at  as  convenient  points  as  possible.  Arrangements 
for  subsistence  cannot  be  guaranteed  by  the  committee.  There  is  at  present,  no  rail 
road  terminating  at  Yorktown,  and  it  is  not  certain  there  will  be  one.  It  is  probable 
that  access  to  the  place  will  be  chiefly  by  water.  There  is  ample  room  for  anchorage 
of  vessels  of  the  greatest  depth,  but,  to  avoid  confusion,  all  vessels  should  report  at 


160  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

once  to  the  harbor-master,  who  will  be  designated  by  the  committee,  or  by  the  com 
manding  officer  of  the  encampment.  The  Secretary  of  War  will  be  requested  to  desig 
nate  as  such  commanding  officer  some  officer  of  high  rank  in  the  Regular  Army.  That 
the  preservation  of  order  should  be  committed  to  the  charge  of  a  military  officer  seema 
appropriate,  as  the  assemblage  will  be  mainly  composed  of  soldiers  of  the  regular  and 
militia  force  of  the  country,  and  the  occasion  is  the  celebration  of  one  of  the  most  im 
portant  military  events  in  the  history  of  our  country. 

In  order  to  allow  time  for  the  proper  and  comfortable  distribution  of  such  organ 
izations  as  may  attend,  notice  is  hereby  given  to  all  those  who  intend  to  be  present 
that  their  intention  should  be  made  known  to  this  Committee  before  the  first  of  Sep 
tember  next;  to  those  who  give  such  notice  later  no  guarantee  of  a  comfortable 
camping  place  can  be  made.  The  order  of  procedure  for  each  organization  will  be  to 
report  its  arrival  without  delay  to  the  harbor-master,  who  will  indicate  the  place  of 
lauding,  and  will  conduct  it  to  its  place  in  the  camp,  providing  transportation  fbr 
its  camp  equipage  of  reasonable  amount.  The  organization  should  then  report  at 
once  through  its  chief  to  the  commanding  general  of  the  encampment.  The  nearest 
railroad  centers  to  Yorktown  are  Baltimore,  Md.,  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  Richmond, 
Va.  It  is  possible  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Railroad  may  be  extended  before  Octo 
ber  to  Newport  News,  at  the  mouth  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  In  this  event,  this  railroaiJ 
would  pass  within  a  short  day's  march  of  Yorktown.  It  is  possible  this  company  may 
build  a  branch  road  to  Yorktown,  to  be  available  for  use  during  the  celebration. 
The  principal  office  of  this  company  is  at  Richmond,  Va. 

On  the  30th  of  July  I  met  the  Commission,  and  at  your  request  sub 
mitted  a  communication,  of  which  a  copy  follows  : 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  30,  1881. 

DEAR  SIR  :  At  your  request  I  submit  herewith  an  approximate  estimate  of  thn 
cost  of  certain  of  the  requirements  of  the  Yorktown  Celebration,  to  which  I  under 
stand  you  wish  my  attention  to  be  given. 

It  is  necessarily  a  mere  approximation,  as  many  of  the  elements  upon  which  it  is. 
based  are  yet  entirely  unsettled,  and  none  are  known  with  precision.  It  is  the  best 
I  can  now  give.  The  total  is,  in  round  numbers,  $13,500.  I  would  prefer  to  have? 
it  $'20,000. 

Respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

WM.  P.  CRAIGHILL, 
Hon.  J.  W.  JOHNSTON, 

Washington.  D.  C. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  30,  1881. 

ESTIMATE. 

Wharf,  near  those  now  in  place $4, 000 

Moving  camp  equipage  and  baggage 500 

Police  tug  in  harbor 

Straw  for  camp  bedding 

Fuel 1,000 

Drainage  of  camp 

Lighting  camp  and  grounds 500 

Water  supply 1,000 

Reception  building,  without  decorations 1,500 

Furniture  for  building 

Modifications  of  platform  and  music  stand 450 

Marking  revolutionary  places  of  interest 

11,000 
Contingencies  20  per  cent 2>  ^ 

13, 200 
In  round  numbers,  $13,500. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  161 

Teiits  were  furnished  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  who  also  placed  under 
my  orders,  for  the  duty  of  establishing  the  camp.  50  engineer  soldiers 
and  50  artillerymen,  under  the  command  of  their  proper  officers.  Gen 
eral  Meigs,  Quartermaster- General,  United  States  Army,  furnished  a 
pump  and  pipes  for  the  supply  of  water.  Lights  were  furnished  by 
Mr.  Xicolai,  of  this  city,  for  the  camp,  roads,  wharves,  &c. 

A  large  frame  building,  called  La  Fayette  Hall,  100  feet  long  by  00 
wide,  was  erected  on  the  edge  of  the  Monument  site,  which  contained  a 
room  for  the  Commission  and  guests,  one  for  the  Secretary  of  State  and 
the  French  arid  German  guests,  a  large  room  for  receptions  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  for  danc 
ing,  and  others  for  ladies,  offices,  &c.  This  building  was  very  hand 
somely  decorated,  chiefly  by  the  use  of  flags,  by  Mrs.  Egbert  Olcott. 

On  the  Monument  site  was  constructed  a  large  platform  for  the 
Masonic  ceremonies  in  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone,  and  during  the 
delivery  of  the  oration  by  Mr.  Bancroft  and  the  poem  of  Mr.  Hope. 
Ample  accommodations  for  spectators,  with  seats,  &c.,  were  provided. 
A  road  was  opened  down  the  ravine  just  west  of  the  Monument  site 
and  connecting  the  wharves.  A  plank  walk  for  footmen  led  from  the 
eastern  wharf  up  into  the  town.  Two  large  wharves  were  built  for  the 
Commission  in  front  of  the  town. 

Several  photographs  were  taken  by  Mr.  Pierce,  of  the  Treasury 
Department,  of  the  model  of  the  Monument,  of  the  Masonic  ceremonies 
in  laying  the  corner-stone,  and  of  the  platform  containing  the  President 
of  the  United  States  and  many  other  distinguished  persons  during  the 
delivery  of  the  oration  of  Hon.  Mr.  Winthrop,  and  the  poem  of  Mr. 
Hope.  Efforts  were  made  to  take  views  of  the  camp,  £c.,  but  the 
great  clouds  of  dust  and  other  circumstances  prevented. 

The  completion  of  the  telegraph  line  of  the  Western  Union  Com 
pany  was  a  very  great  convenience,  and  the  failure  of  the  Chesapeake 
and  Ohio  Railroad  to  make  connection  with  the  general  railway  system 
of  the  country  was  a  cause  not  only  of  great  disappointment  but  also 
of  serious  inconvenience  to  many  who  had  depended  upon  it. 

The  following  paper  shows  the  basis  of  the  preparations  : 

YORKTOWN  CENTENNIAL  COMMISSION,  UNITED  STATES  CAPITOL, 

Washington,  D.  C.,  July  30,  1881. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  held  this  day  it  was  voted  : 
That  Colonel  Craighill  be  requested  to  lay  out  as  soon  as  possible  a  camp  on  the 
Temple  farm  of  sufficient  size,  to  accommodate  twenty-live  thousand  people. 

•   A  copy  from  the  minutes. 

Clark  Yorktown  Congressional  Commission. 
JNO.  S.  TUCKER, 

A  number  of  old  guns,  some  of  which  had  been  surrendered  at  York- 
town  to  General  Washington's  army  a  century  before,  were  received 
through  the  aid  of  the  Ordnance  and  Quartermaster's  Department,  and 
S.  Rep.  1003 11 


162  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

arranged  near  the  Monument  site,  forming  a  very  interesting  and  much 
noticed  feature  of  the  celebration. 

At  the  request  of  the  Centennial  Association,  a  reservation  of  about 
thirty  acres  was  made  for  their  special  use,  in  a  most  eligible  part  of  the 
Temple  farm,  on  the  bluff  of  the  river,  and  extending  from  the  west 
ern  edge  of  the  farm  nearly  to  the  Moore  house,  which  was  also  under 
the  control  of  that  Association,  alter  being  very  nicely  restored  and 
furnished. 

Although  the  previous  drought  caused  much  dust,  which  was  a  very 
great  annoyance  and  inconvenience,  the  weather  was  very  good.  While 
constant  difficulty  was  experienced  for  want  of  money  and  time  in 
making  the  arrangements  for  the  celebration  as  complete  as  the  great 
occasion  justified,  yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  all  the  essential  things 
undertaken  by  your  Commission  were  accomplished.  The  Army  and 
IN"avy  did  their  part  most  successfully.  The  Masonic  and  other  cere' 
monies  passed  off  in  an  excellent  way.  The  camp  was  in  a  beautiful 
location,  well  arranged,  watered,  and  lighted.  There  was  ample  ac 
commodation  provided  for  the  troops,  the  Masons,  and  all  who  had  been 
invited  to  be  present. 

In  addition  to  the  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  referring  specially 
to  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  Monument,  there  is  inserted 
-also  a  copy  of  my  report  as  a  member  of  the  staff  of  Major-General 
Hancock,  as  it  contains  many  details  concerning  the  celebration,  the 
whole  of  which  was  by  law  under  the  general  control  of  your  Com 
mission. 

UNITED  STATES  ENGINEER  OFFICE, 

Baltimore,  J/d.,  January  14,  1882. 

SIR:  By  paragraph  9,  of  Special  Order  215,  Adjutant-General's  Office,  Washington, 
D.  C.,  September  19,  1881,  I  was  directed,  in  addition  to  other  duties,  to  perform  serv 
ice  at  Yorktowu,  Va.,  under  the  orders  of  Maj.  Gen.  W.  S.  Hancock,  in  connection 
with  the  celebration  at  that  place,  until  its  conclusion.  This  order  was  received 
September  23,  when  I  at  once  reported  by  letter  for  instructions.  These  \vere  given 
by  General  Hancock  in  person  at  his  headquarters,  to  which  I  was  called  by  tele 
graph  soon  after. 

Previous  to  this  time  considerable  progress  had  been  made  in  the  necessary  prepar 
ations  for  the  encampment  and  comfort  of  the  troops,  and  they  were  thereafter  con 
tinued  with  great  activity.  Two  new  wharves  were  constructed  in  front  of  the  town 
of  York,  with  a  depth  of  10  feet  at  their  fronts  at  mean  low  water.  The  head  of 
each  was  100  by  40  feet,  each  connected  with  the  shore  by  two  bridges.  A  small 
wharf  was  built  in  1'rdnt  of  the  Monument  site  with  a  depth  of  water  of  about  4  feet 
at  mean  low  water,  to  be  used  by  small  boats.  Two  others  of  a  similar  character 
were  nearly  in  front  of  the  Moore  house.  A  good  road  was  made  under  the  bluff  in 
front  of  the  town,  connecting  the  four  wharves ;  the  existing  roads  leading  from  the 
wharves  to  the  bluff  (about  50  feet  high)  on  which  the  town  stands,  were  repaired, 
and  a  new  one  was  also  opened  up  in  the  ravine  just  west  of  the  site  of  the  Monu-' 
nient,  in  the  edge  of  the  town.  The  road  from  the  town  to  the  site  of  the  camp  on 
the  Temple  farm  was  improved  by  leveling  knolls  and  filling  up  hollows,  grubbing 
up  stumps  and  brush,  and  widening  to  100  feet  the  opening  through  the  old  Confed 
erate  works.  This  last  operation  required  the  removal  of  a  heavy  parapet  and  the 
filling  of  the  ditch. 

Early  in  September  a  detachment  of  the  Third   Artillery  and  a  detachment  from 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 


163 


the  Engineer  Battalion  reported  to  me  for  duty  at  York  town  in  laying  out  the  camp 
and  such  other  arrangements  as  they  could  properly  assist  in.  The  Artillery  detach 
ment,  consisting  of  forty-eight  men  and  three  officers,  under  the  command  of  Captain 
John  R.  Myrick,  Brevet  Major  United  States  Army,  reached  Yorktown  September  3, 
1881.  The  Engineer  troops,  forty-eight  in  number,  commanded  by  Lieut.  C.  McD. 
Townsenil,  reached  Yorktown  September  8,  1881.  Both  detachments  went  at  once 
into  camp  on  arriving  and  were  united  under  the  command  of  the  senior  officer, 
Captain  Myrick. 

The  work  to  be  performed  consisted  in  clearing  the  grounds,  providing  a  supply  of 
water,  transporting  and  guarding  public  property,  laying  out  the  encampment,  and 
erecting  tents  for  such  organizations  as  so  desired. 

The  encampment  was  situated  on  the  peninsula  bet  ween  the  York  River  and  Worm- 
ley's  Creek,  and  was  at  a  distance  of  about  one  and  three-quarters  miles  from  the 
landing  at  Yorktown.  The  ground  was  well  adapted  for  the  encampment  of  a  large 
body  of  troops.  It  was  situated  on  a  high  bluff;  the  soil  was  sandy  and  dry;  and 
in  the  surrounding  ravines  a  large  number  of  springs  insured  a  convenient  and  ample 
supply  of  water.  It  was  necessary  to  clear  the  fields  of  fences,  weeds,  underbrush, 
and  in  many  places  of  a  thick  growth  of  saplings. 

The  arrangement  of  the  camp  in  general  and  in  detail  was  intended  to  be  such  that 
all  the  organizations  should  be  convenient  to  water  and  fuel,  should  have  such  roads 
and  avenues  as  would  enable  free  circulation  and  room  for  drills  and  other  exercises 
common  in  carnp.  The  Masons  were  placed  on  the  bluif  near  and  to  the  left  of  the 
Moore  house.  The  headquarters  of  the  Commanding  General  were  on  the  bluff,  to  the 
right  of  the  Moore  house.  The  Regulars  were  in  camp  nearthe  general  headquarters, 
uuder  the  command  of  Col.  H.  B.  Glitz,  Brevet  Brigadier-General  United  States 
Army.  The  troops  of  the  several  States  were  arranged  along  the  bluff  of  Wormley's 
Creek,  their  order  from  right  to  left  being  determined  by  the  date  of  their  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The  space  allowed  to  each  State  was  pro 
portioned  to  thfe  number  of  troops  therefrom. 

A  grand  parade,  called  by  the  names  of  Washington  and  La  Fayette,  was  left  be 
tween  the  front  of  the  camp  and  the  river.  A  large  area  was  left  open  to  the  left  of 
the  camp  for  the  accumulation  of  the  troops  on  the  day  of  the  review  after  passing 
the  reviewing  officer. 

A  few  of  the  State  troops  brought  their  own  tents  and  pitched  them.  The  most  of 
them,  as  well  as  the  Masons,  were  accommodated  in  tents  furnished  by  the  War  De 
partment  and  pitched1  by  the  regular  troops  present.  The  original  arrangement  of 
the  tents  for  the  space  of  each  State  was  such  as  would  be  suitable  for  the  several 
organizations  expected  from  each  State.  The  tents  were,  however,  pitched  as  nearly 
as  possible  according  to  the  desires  of  the  representatives  of  the  different  States  when 
any  preference  was  expressed.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  different  organizations 
and  the  number  of  tents  allotted  to  each  State : 


State. 


Organization. 


Formation,    x 


Regular  troops . . .    Battalion  First-  Artillery Battalion  .  . . 

1  Battalion  Third  Artillery do 

Battalion  Second  and  Fifth  Ar-    do 

tillery. 

Battalion  Tenth  Infantry do .1 

Light  Battery,  Second  Artillery.    Battery. 

Light  Battery,  Third  Artillery..! do 

Battery  K,  First  Artillery do 

Battery  I,  Third  Artillery do 

Detachment  Engineers ^  Company 

Detachment  Signal  Corps do 


Kind. 


Remarks. 


A 

A 

A 

A 

Wall... 

Sibley  . 


164 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 


State. 

Organization. 

Formation. 

«s« 

6  o 
fel 

Kind. 

Remarks. 

Delaware 

Battalion  Delaware  Militia  
Eighteenth  Regiment  Pennsyl 
vania  National  Guard. 
New  Jersey  Battalion  National 
Guard. 
Post  23  G.  A.  R 

Regiment. 
do.... 

do 

34 

78 

Hospital. 
....do... 

A 

Pitched   their    own 
tents. 
Do. 

Not  occupied. 

Pitched    their    own 
tents. 
Remained  in  boat. 
Pitched    their    own 
tents. 
Do. 

Do. 

One  battery  brought 
wall  tents. 

Pitched    their    own 
tents. 

Pitched    their    own 
tents.. 

Pennsylvania  

Georgia 

Company  . 
i  Batterv... 

9 
Chatham  Artillery 

6 

54 

Hospital 
...  do  .. 

Wall.... 

Connecticut  
Massachusetts.  .  . 

Maryland 

First  Regiment  Connecticut  Na-  j  Regiment, 
tional  Guard. 
Ninth  Massachusetts  Volunteer     Regiment. 
Militia. 
First  Corps  Independent  Cadets     Battalion  . 
Fifth     Independent     National     Regiment. 
Guard. 
First  Battalion  Independent  Na-     Battalion  . 
tional  Guard. 
Second  Battalion  Independent  |  do  
National  Guard. 
South  Carolina    Battalion    In-     Regiment, 
fantry. 
New  Hampshire  Battalion  In  do  
fantry. 
First    Regiment  Virginia    Na-    do  
tional  Guard. 
Second  Regiment  Virginia  Na-  |  do  
tional  Guard. 
Third  Regiment  Virginia  Na-    -    --do  
tional  Guard. 
Fourth  Regiment  Virginia  Na-    do  
tional  Guard. 
Virginia  Military  Institute  Battalion  . 
Virginia  Artillery                            do 



23 
15 
24 

24 
24 
24 
12 

Wall.... 
Hospital 
....do... 
....do... 
....do... 
....do... 
....do... 
....do... 
....do... 

..do    .. 
do 

South  Carolina... 
New  Hampshire. 
Virginia  

New  York  

Gloucester  Cavalry 

Companies- 
do.... 
Regiment. 

Company  . 
do.... 

Regiment 
Battalion  . 

.Hn 

5 

20 

8 

10 

1 

94 
20 

32 
20 
46 
414 

....do  ... 
....do... 
Wall.... 

Hospital. 
....de... 

....do.   . 
.  .  .  do  ... 

....do... 
Hospital. 
....do... 
....do  ... 
do 

Independent  companies 

Thirteenth  New  Vork  National 
Guard. 
Company    E,    Seventy  -  fourth 
New  York  National  Guard. 
Company  D,    Sixty-fifth    New 
York  National  Guard. 
North  Carolina  Battalion  

\ 

North  Carolina  .  . 
Rhode  Island  

Vermont 

Second  Battalion  Rhode  Island 
National  Guard. 
Vermont  Battalion  

Kentucky  - 

Third  Kentucky  Battalion  do  .     J 

Michigan  .  . 

Battalion.  Michigan  do  

Masons  

. 

The  militia  of  New  Jersey,  Massachusetts,  Maryland,  and  the  Thirteenth  New  York 
pitched  their  own  tents.  For  the  other  State* the  encampments  were  laid  out  by  the 
engineer  detachment,  and  the  tents  were  pitched  by  the  regular  brigade  under  Gen 
eral  Clitz.  The  tents  for  the  Masons  were  pitched  by  Battery  I,  Third  Artillery,  and 
the  engineer  detachment. 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  165 

The  following  names  were  given  to  tin-  avenues  in  the  camp,  as  appears  from  the 
maps : 

Tho  principal  one,  "Rochambeau ;"  the  others,  "  De  Grasse,"  "De  Barras,"  "Vio- 
meuil,"  "St.  Simon  and  Chastellux,"  "Deux-Pouts  ami  Hamilton/'  "Lincoln," 
"Steuben,"  "Nelson,"  "  Knox  and  Dn  Portail." 

The  road  made  from  the  site  of  the  Monument  to  the  shore  was  named  "  De  Choisy 
and  Lauzun,"  after  the  commanding  officers  on  the  Gloucester  side  who  were  men 
tioned  in  General  Washington's  congratulatory  order.  The  road  along  the  shore  to  the 
United  States  wharves  was  for  similar  reasons  named  "  Querenet  and  D'Aboville," 
after  the  French  chiefs  of  engineers  and  artillery  at  the  siege.  The  reasons  for  the  ot  her 
names  are  sufficiently  obvious  to  all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  events  of  the  siege. 

Water  for  the  use  of  the  encampment  was  obtained  from  a  pond  in  Wormley's 
Creek,  formed  by  an  old  mill-dam. 

The  camp-ground  occupied  an  irregularly  shaped,  iiiidulating  plateau,  about  60 
feet  above  water  surface  in  the  pond.  The  water  was  pumped  directly  into  the  mains 
by  a  Dean  pump  of  16-inch  steam  and  10-inch  water  cylinder,  16-inch  stroke,  which 
was  located  on  the  bank  of  the  creek,  and  about  8  feet  above  it.  The  mains,  which 
laid  on  the  surface  and  followed  the  undulations  of  the  ground,  consisted  of  one  line 
of  3-inch  wrought  pipe  1,870  feet  long,  one  4,400  feet  long  and  a  branch  from  this  lat 
ter,  about  midway,  of  1,200  feet  length  of  2-inch  pipe — making  a  total  length  of  pipe 
line  of  about  7.500  feet. 

The  horizontal  changes  of  direction  in  the  pipe  line  were  made  by  vertical  swivel 
joints,  which,  of  course,  occasioned  some  loss  of  head,  but  were  not  found  to  affect  the 
results  appreciably,  while  they  permitted  unlimited  changes  of  alignment  at  any 
time. 

The  2-inch  branch  line  Avas  joined  to  the  3-inch  line  by  a  flanged  T- 

At  about  every  200  feet  along  the  pipe  Hues  were  inserted  T  connections,  carrying 
short  4-feet .curved  pieces  of  1-inch  pipe,  through  which  water  was  discharged  into  hogs 
heads  planted  one-half  their  depth  in  the  ground.  In  order  to  make  the  system  as 
nearly  self-acting  as  possible,  and  to  dispense  with  numerous  stop-cocks,  the  dis 
charge  ends  of  the  curved  1-inch  piece,  were  fitted  with  "bushings,"  varying  from 
three-quarters  to  one-quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  according  to  the  location  of  the 
opening  and  its  distance  from  the  pump,  the  proper  diameters  being  found  by  trial. 
Stop-valves  were  placed  ou  the  two  3-inch  lines,  at  pump,  and  waste-valves  at  outer 
end  of  all  lines;  no  oth^r  regulating  valves  were  used  anywhere  on  the  lines. 

The  pump,  which  was  supplied  with  two  upright  tubular  boilers  of  a  united  ca 
pacity  of  60  horse-power  at  70  pounds  steam  pressure,  was  expected  to  .supply  20,000 
gallons  an  hour.  It  was,  however,  probably  never  called  upon  to  do  this  amount  of 
work,  though  yo  register  of  supply  furnished  was  kept. 

Steam  was  kept  up  day  and  night  and  the  pump  operated  at  such  intervals  as  the  de 
mand  required,  never  permitting  the  hogsheads  to  become  empty  or  greatly  reduced. 

During  operation  of  the  pump  at  hours  of  greatest  demand  the  pressure  gauge  reg 
istered  40  pounds,  equivalent  to  a  head  of  about  100  feet  of  water. 

The  pump,  pipes,  fittings,  all  material  of  every  kind  connected  with  the  pumping 
machinery  and  pipe  line,  were  furnished  by  the  Quartermaster-General,  United  States 
Army  ;  the  placing,  fixing,  and  operating  the  whole  system  was  done  at  the  expense 
of  the  Congressional  Centennial  fund,  and  amounted  to  about  $1,000. 

I  desire  to  express  my  thanks  to  General  Meigs  for  excellent  advice  as  to  the  ar 
rangements  for  the  water  supply.  The  services  of  Mr.  N.  H.  Huttou,  civil  engineer, 
in  connection  with  the  water  supply  and  many  other  matters  were  invaluable. 

Besides  the  supply  of  water  through  the  pipes,  all  the  available  springs  in  the  sur 
rounding  ravines  were  utilized  and  improved  by  sinking  a  number  of  hogsheads  and 
barrels  at  each.  Near  the  wharves,  also,  water  was  readily  procured  by  driving  down 
gas-pipe  15  or  20  feet  into  the  sand. 

The  camp  and  grounds  were  also  well  lighted  by  gasoline  lamps,  furnished  and 


166  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

served  by  Mr.  Nicolai,  of  Baltimore,  at  the  expense  of  the  Congressional  Commission. 

During  the  Centennial  days  Lieut.  Eugene  Griffin,  of  the  Corps  of  Engineers,  per 
formed  most  excellent  service  in  giving  special  supervision  to  the  arrangements  for 
water  and  lights. 

A  large  stand,  150  by  25  feet,  with  plank  floor,  platform,  &c.,  was  erected  between 
daylight  of  October  20  and  the  hour  of  the  review,  10  a.  m.  To  procure  materials  for 
this  platform  it  was  necessary  to  tear  up  portions  of  the  platform  around  the  Monu 
ment,  more  than  a  mile  distant,  and  haul  them,  as  well  as  the  chairs,  from  that  point. 
On  the  day  of  the  review  the  command  of  Captain  Myrick  acted  as  a  police  guard  un 
der  my  orders. 

The  duty  of  the  Signal  Service  was  performed  in  a  most  efficient  manner.  There 
was  a  line  connecting  the  General  Headquarters,  in  camp,  with  the  wharves,  at  the 
town.  Another  station  was  at  the  Monument  site,  and  during  the  review  an  opera 
tor  was  present  at  the  Grand  Stand  with  connections  to  the  main  line. 

Capt.  L.  C.  Forsythe,  Quartermaster's  Department,  United  States  Army,  who  was 
present  at  Yorktown,  under  my  orders,  from  the  1st  of  September,  was  indefatigable 
in  the  performance  of  duties  the  most  varied  and  vexatious.  Captain  Myrick  and 
the  officers  and  men  of  his  command,  of  the  Engineer  and  Artillery  detachments,  de 
serve  the  highest  praise  for  the  cheerful  performance  of  much  laborious  and  disa 
greeable  duty. 

LIST  OF  ORGANIZATIONS  PRESENT. 


Consisting  of —  Commander. 


REGULAR  TROOPS. 

Brigade,  four  battalions  foot  troops.     (Drawn     CoLH.B.  Glitz 

from  First,  Second,  Third,  and  Fifth  Artil 
lery  and  Tenth  Infantry.) 

Two  light  batteries    (A  Second  and  C  Third 
United  States  Artillery). 

Battery  I,  Third  Artillery '  Capt.  J.  R.  Myrick 

Detachment  battalion  of  engineers  engaged  in  ;  Lieut.  C.  McD.  Townsend. . 
laying  out  encampments,  &c. 

Detachment,  mounted.  Light  Battery  K,  First  j  First  Lieut.  Ally n  Capron. 
Artillery. 

Naval  brigade  from  fleet  at  Yorktown ;  Capt.  R.  W.  Meade,  U.  S. 

(These  troops    did   not  go  into  camp,  but  ! 
were  quartered  on  board  ship.) 


From  the  "Homes" f  Capt.  T.  P.  Woodfin. 

Detachment  First  Regiment  Veterans'  Union. 


If 

P.  .3 
—  f 


STATE   TROOPS. 


Georgia  battery 

New  Jersey  battalion . 
Delaware  battalion . . . 


Commander  George  N.  Tibbell. 


First  Lieut.  George  P.  "Walker. 

Col.  E.  Burd  Grubb  

Col.  S.  A.  McAllister... 


Pennsylvania :  Eighteenth  Regiment i  Col.  T.  X.  Guthrie 

Connecticut:  First  Regiment j  Col.  L  A.  Barbour 

(This  regiment  arrived  on  morning  of  re 
view  in  time  to  participate,  but  did  not 
go  into  camp.  No  return  was  furnished, 
but  it  is  understood  that  the  approxi 
mate  strength  was  462.)  * 


1,000 


1, 112 


388 
26 


22 
702 


252 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 
LIST  OF  ORGANIZATIONS  PRESENT—  Continued. 


167 


Consisting  of — 


STATE  TROOI'S — Continued. 

Massachusetts: 

Ninth  Regiment  Massachusetts  Militia 

First  Corps  Cadets • 

Maryland  First  brigade 

South  Carolina  battalion 

New  Hampshire  battalion 

Virginia : 

Four  regiments  infantry 

Virginia  Institute  Military  Cadets 

Gloucester  Cavalry 

Artillery 


Commander. 


Col.  William  M.  Strachan 524 

Lieut,  Col.  T.F.Edwards 128 


Brig.  Gen.  James  R.  Herbert 

Col.  Hugh  S.  Thompson 

Lieut.  Col.  E.  J.  Copp 


If 


652 


310 
195 


Brig.  Gen 


.  Fitzhugh  Lee 811; 


128J 
30 

iia 


New  York  Thirteenth  Regiment 

North  Carolina  First  and  Second  Battalion 

Rhode  Island  Second  Battalion 

Vermont  Battalion 

Kentucky  Third  Battalion 

Michigan  Battalion 

Total  approximate  strength,  exclusive  of 
Connecticut  troops 

Total  with  Connecti cut  troops 


Col.  David  E.  Austen 

Brig.  Gen.  B.  C.  Manly 

Li.  ut.  Col.  B.  B.  Martin 

Msi.j.  A.D.  Tenney 

Brig.  G  on.  J.  P.  Nxickols 

t.'ol.  Israel  C.  Smith 


1,087 
374 

472 
124 
183 
228 
291 


9,015 
j  9,477 


Master  Masons 706 

Knights  Templar 277 

983 
(In  camp,  but  not  in  the  review.) 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

WILLIAM  P.  CKAIGHILL, 

Lieut.  Col.  of  Engineers. 
Maj.  W.  G.  MITCHELL, 

Assistant  Adjutant- General  United  States  Army, 

Governor's  Island,  New  York  Harbor. 

I  desire  to  express  my  thanks  for  most  valuable  services  to  Mr.  E.  II. 
Kirliu.  Others  who  assisted  me  very  much  have  been  mentioned  pre 
viously.  Special  surveys  of  much  importance  were  made  by  Mr.  John 
L.  Seager,  civil  engineer,  who  has  also  drawn  the  maps  used  in  illus 
trating  my  report  to  General  Hancock. 


168  YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION. 

I  append  a  summary  statement  showing  the  application  of  all  moneys 
received  by  me  from  the  Commission : 

Staff  mcnt  xhowing  amount  received  from  the  Centennial  Commission  and  how  disbursed  in 
"defraying  the  expense*  incurred  by  the  Congressional  Committee  in  the  Centennial  celebra 
tion  at  Yorktown,  Fa.,"  by  Lieut.  Col.  William  P.  Craif/hiU,  Corps^of  Engineers,  United 
States  Army. 

Amount  received  from  Centoimiiil  Commission $6,500  00 

Amount  disbursed  for : 

Services  o   laborers,  mechanics,  overseers,  &,c 3, 573  26 

Traveling  expenses 212  10 

Telegrams 9  31 

Freight  and  hire  of  teams 316  25 

Lamps,  oil,  and  lanterns 787  00 

Decorating  La  Fayette  Hall 150  00 

Piles  and  pile  driving 131  30 

Materials,  including  lumber,  nails,  locks,  signs,  felt,  cement,  doors,  hogs 
heads,  &c 1, 112  28 

Wood 195  00 

Table  and  chairs..  13  50 


6,  500  00 

Outstanding  liabilities: 

Basshor  &  Co.,  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  water  supply 808  94 

J.  H.  Wemple,  Norfolk,  Va.,  lumber 54472 


Total 1,353  66 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  return  to  you,  its  chairman,  and  to  other  mem 
bers  of  the  Commission  with  whom  I  came  in  contact,  and  to  its  offi  cers 
my  sincere  thanks  for  the  courtesy  and  consideration  shown  to  me. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  P.  CRAIGHILL, 
Lieutenant- Colonel  of  Engineers, 

United  States  Army. 
Hon.  JOHN  W.  JOHNSTON, 

Chairman  Yorktown  Centennial  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

In  submitting1  this  report  it  is  proper  to  state  that  the  sum  of  $20,000, 
originally  appropriated  for  the  expenses  of  the  celebration,  was  dis 
bursed  by  the  disbursing  agent,  William  S.  Gilman,  esq.,  with  exact 
fidelity,  and  his  accounts  in  that  capacity  have  been  audited  and  ap 
proved  by  the  Treasury  Department. 

The  many  unforeseen  expenses  attending  the  celebration  in  a  place 
like  Yorktown,  remote  from  the  larger  cities,  and  where  everything  had 
to  be  furnished  at  a  heavy  expense  of  material,  transportation,  and 
labor,  including  wharves  to  be  built  and  a  camp  to  be  laid  out  and  pre 
pared  for  the  comfort  of  the  visiting  military,  made  it  necessary  for  the 
Commission  to  incur  a  deficiency.  This  deficiency  was  reported  to  Con- 


YORKTOWN    CELEBRATION.  161) 

gress,  and  an  appropriation  made  by  your  honorable  bodies  to  cover 
it.  This  was  disbursed,  under  the  law,  by  the  State  Department,  and  all 
outstanding'  bills  have  now  been  paid.  John  S.  Tucker,  esq.,  the  sec 
retary  of  the  Commission,  performed  the  many  arduous  duties  devolved 
upon  him  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Commission. 

The  Commission  is  of  opinion  that  the  Centennial  celebration  at  York- 
town  has  been  productive  of  great  and  lasting  good  to  the  people  of 
the  whole  country  in  bringing  together  many  thousand  representa 
tives  from  all  sections  of  the  Union  in  a  common  desire  to  do  honor  to 
the  memory  of  the  Continental  soldiers  and  their  faithful  allies  who 
stood  with  them,  on  the  fields  of  the  Eevolution,  and  believes  that  the 
assembling  of  our  people  on  this  occasion  has  done  much  to  strengthen 
their  attachment  to  their  common  country  and  their  pride  in  that  Union 
which  was  made  possible  by  the  heroes  of  Yorktown  one  hundred  years 
ago. 

JOHN  W.  JOHNSTON, 
Chairman  of  the  Yorktown  Centennial  Commission. 

S.  Eep.  1003 12 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
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WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
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WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
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OCT    24 


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